Chronicles of the Protector: The Story Reborn
by Stenir
Summary: The legends of Gaia speak of the Light Warriors and their heroic journey to defeat Chaos and relight the Crystals of Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind. They speak of a future not yet written and stories not yet told. A new story is beginning: a battle for the future and past of Gaia centered on one boy and the power of his heart to protect the world... Chronicles Book 1. (FF1)
1. The Final Journey

Past. Present. Future. Three aspects of time that are locked in an intricate manner. When a thought is of the past, it's focused on what choices were made. A thought of the present tends to gravitate towards events that are currently being experienced. But the future? That is something most people think about on a daily basis without realizing it. Everyone looks to the future for hope, for change, and for some…a new start. Where are we going? What sort of effect will the actions we take today have on events that have not yet happened?

One man always felt the flow of time in a different way. He certainly experienced it like everybody else, from past, to present, to future. His own nature often made it difficult to track cause and effects, as in the past he traveled through time to observe events, sometimes even being dragged into them. "Sometimes" usually meant "every time"; his nature simply wouldn't allow those who could not defend themselves from going unprotected. To others, his presence on one side of a conflict meant a fundamental shift in power. For most people, they would never know this shift occurred in time as things changed and he acted upon his core beliefs in protecting all. For them, time always occurred the way they remember it; for the Protector, remembering the original version of events and not having the knowledge the new events would bring usually took him by surprise when he saw how different each new version of the world was.

For this man, this Protector in name and in action, today was a radically different day. His focus was rapidly shifting between what to do next the in present to achieve his goal in the past. Throughout it all, as he ran through endless corridors of metal being warped by the heating and air conditioning system finally succumbing to the meltdown of the planet's core, he found himself stuck thinking on what the Magi had done. Four people who had the most god-like of powers chose, as their last evil act, to destroy the planet of Gaia. For the Protector, the only thing more maddening than their actions was his constant need to dodge the explosions rocking the passageway and blowing out sections of the wall as he tried to pass. That…and the people who he counted on to have his back telling him to just go home and leave the Magi to them.

How could he return to the home he originally had? Gaia had become his home over the last thirty-some Terran years of his life. He had spent most of those years here on Gaia, meaning he had experienced almost ninety thousand years. He hated that he aged according to his own universe. It was painful to make friends and watch them die, knowing that he would live past the fall of their civilization and likely through the next. He could have died at any time, but fate or destiny or whatever the current terminology happened to be for existence had different plans for him. It went without saying that over those millennia, he had grown a kinship with Gaia and a hatred for the evil it spawned. He saw the good that could create and the darkness that could destroy. For him, the only one who understood the imbalance was the person who looked at him through a mirror. Still, with the Magi having chosen to destroy the core and the planet along with it, there was no other choice; he was not about to let it be destroyed and not attempt to save it. If he wasn't going to walk away from protecting someone, it was definitely not in his nature to just walk away from a situation like this.

It was a long war against the Magi, and no matter what they threw at him, the Protector stood his ground and protected as well as he could. It took him traveling back through time to stop them. He was appalled when he found out who they truly were, but it was the information needed to capture them and end the destruction. As a means of ensuring that they would never escape confinement, the Protector had specifically designed an elaborate fortress. Every attempt they made only made it harder to escape from. He had tested it on himself, and managed to get out only once. It was a secret only he knew, and there was no way the Magi could have managed to use that to their advantage…unless…

He shuddered at the thought that what made him different from the entire population of Gaia could be the reason the Magi were so powerful. That would mean that everything that happened during the War was, in some way, his fault. He didn't want to believe that. He didn't want to believe that everything he did was for naught, that all the good that he accomplished could be unwritten with such relative ease. So many people had died as he tried to protect them from the Magi's attempt at taking over Gaia. There were points he thought that he couldn't go on, that he had no business trying to defend those who showed little to no resistance. It was those moments that he, to this day, questioned. Were those the right choices to make? The same question rolled around in head; no answer ever came. Had he gained anything through every battle he fought and every life he won back for the people of Gaia? That was a much harder question to ask. People he knew and had grown close to had been taken from him. The same people, out of everyone on Gaia at the time, that he cared about outside of being the Protector.

"Lyds…" The nickname escaped his lips as part of a half-forgotten memory from many years ago. Decades? Centuries? The different fragments of time began to bleed together to form a coherently incoherent whole. Was this what it was like to lose someone who could keep you in check? Was this what it was like to just lose anyone? He didn't know past the obvious acknowledgement; yes, he felt this way and had lost her. But was it the exact same as if he had lost someone else? He could only answer "no".

She had been taken from him, and it destroyed him for a long time. It tore who he was from his heart and left what he thought was a hollow shell. In one brief instant, or a millennia of seconds depending on how he remembered it, his world crumbled. He went from being the savior of the world to the one who needed to be saved. He tried to put off the thought that all of the dangerous things he had attempted when going after the Magi were because of his anger at himself. He should have been able to protect her. Could he truly be called the Protector if the one person that he cared about lost her life and he was forced to stand by and watch as it happened? Did he blame himself for losing her life? Yes – it was her attachment to him that ended with her death, even if it occurred after years of wonderful and emotional marriage. Now, the only thing that he lived for was protecting Gaia…and he was failing.

Perhaps there was a chance that he could avert it all from happening. If he went back in time far enough, he could undo everything. Prevent the war. Prevent her death. Prevent his anger. He had to get to the one power able to send him back in time: the Pendant of Time. He wasn't certain what gave it the ability to send people through time; for the first time since being called the Protector, he was happy that such an item existed. There was still time to go back to Earth…Terra…whatever it needed to be called right now. That didn't matter to him. His home universe always seemed to take back-seat to events on Gaia…and as far as he knew, Earth was not minutes from exploding.

The Protector turned the last corner, running headfirst into the one person out of his small group of friends that survived the War to this point. The legends called him the Helper; usually, everyone that was a member of the party that traveled with the Protector was called a Helper. This Helper, however, was the first out of all of them.

"Jack, my friend, are you alright?" the Protector said moments after they hit the ground. He quickly pulled himself to his feet, holding onto a piece of metal piping with his left hand. He had intended to use it to balance himself while pulling Jack onto his feet, but the tubing quickly gave way under the stress of the heat as the planet's core reached a dangerous temperature. Jack managed to get himself up, and just looked at the Protector as his friend shrugged at the damaged piping before tossing it away.

"We haven't much time, my friend," Jack said as they both ran down the final hallway towards a door with a unique purplish glow emanating from behind it. Had they not bumped into one another, Jack may have never caught up to the Protector. The Protector would have bolted down the hallway faster than anyone could have imagined, and it was due to him having the power of Gaia flowing through him. Even without knowing exactly what he was doing to cause those powers to activate, the Protector knew enough to be able to control the differing elemental forces that he was exposed to. The planet radiated energy in the common classical elements of Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. Somehow, Jack knew that the Protector managed to find some "magical" balance which allowed him to perform the feats he did. Bolting down the hallway might have been a combination of Air and Fire to throw him forward, Jack guessed.

Jack reached the end of the hallway moments after the Protector. Both of them tried their hands on a small scanner, attempting to open the door. When neither of their hands seemed to let them gain access, they both realized the main control room must have been damaged by the planet's core heating up. Jack ripped off a panel and was about to force the door open when the Protector said to stand back. The Protector stood a few feet back from the door and rose a hand up until his arm was straight. With one motion, he closed his hand into a fist, and then quickly opened his fingers as far as he could. The door blew open as if the Protector had thrown a massive weight at it; Jack couldn't see it, but he knew that the Protector had indeed done something to force the door open, whether it be some large ball of invisible energy or just shoving all of the air around them into the door with such force to blow it open.

At first, Jack had to squint. Even though he had been in this room many times before, the Pendant of Time had a very bright shimmering glow. Only the Protector seemed to be able to stare directly at it, but as to the reasoning behind this, Jack had no clue. There were so many things about the Protector that everyone on Gaia didn't know. Even having been friends for many thousands of years, there was so much Jack didn't know about the Protector. Where did he really come from? The simplest answer was a different universe. What made him be the Protector when everyone else tried to and couldn't? That…not even the one person closest to the Protector could have told you.

Jack sat down at what was left of the control panel, trying to get any sort of power to it in order to activate a gateway, a small wormhole between two universes. The gateway was the only means of travel between Gaia and Earth, but in order for the Pendant of Time to work, a gateway needed to be present. The Pendant of Time would let the Protector travel into the past and attempt to save the world. No one had ever tried to go to the future, because there was no information on what would be there when they arrived.

"This is so screwed up," the Protector started. He reached for the Pendant of Time and took it from the pedestal it rested on. As he looked down at it, he continued. "After everything we've learned, the Celestial Order is content to just send me back to Earth. We have a chance to set Gaia onto a different course through time. We can go back and prevent the War from turning this deadly…or even preventing it outright."

For a moment, Jack might have suspected there was a crack in the Protector's voice. He knew the Protector was thinking about everybody he had lost throughout the War. Over all the different times he had saved Gaia from people who would enslave the world or just outright destroy it, the Protector had made hundreds of friends. He proved he wasn't just going to stand by while people who couldn't defense themselves were taken advantage of.

"You've said it a million times before. For them to think, that would require too much common sense on their part. We don't know what's going to happen the moment you step through the gateway into the past. Do we still die here? Does everything change the second the gateway closes and your actions begin to take an effect? That's what they are worried about. If you went back to Earth, at least they'd know you were safe."

"But Gaia wouldn't be. It would just be…gone." The Protector turned towards where a small bluish gateway was beginning to appear. Slowly, the gateway started taking energy from the Pendant, almost as if they were resonating with each other. The Protector focused his mind on the very first time he ever came to Gaia. He needed to return to that point. That was his best chance of stopping this War. It would give him those years he already lived through once.

"The past will change," the Protector stated in a monotone voice. "It will not come back to haunt me anymore. I've made mistakes, Jack. I can't fix them. But they were a result of all the damage that has been done to Gaia because of the War. It's a chain reaction. If I can stop this from happening…then maybe I can save Gaia…and everybody…"

"You regret saving Gaia?" Jack asked.

"No…quite the contrary. I regret the things I felt I needed to do in order to save Gaia. Was I any better than those I ended up stopping? I ran, Jack. I didn't stop running. I haven't stopped running. Until now. It's time to save Gaia…again."

Jack had just enough time to look up and whisper "good luck" to his friend before the gateway started to close, the backside of the Protector disappearing into it. The Protector was now in the past. Jack knew there was going to be hell to pay if this worked; in some ways, even if it didn't work, there was already hell to pay. As the room heated up, Jack turned around to see the floor crumble into the glowing abyss. He smiled…it was all worth it. Saving Gaia. Putting his life on the line to help the Protector save Gaia. He knew the Protector would; he always did.

Jack closed his eyes as the room was engulfed in a series of massive explosions as the planet of Gaia finally caved in on its imploding core. In less than a few seconds, the planet of Gaia exploded in a brilliant shower of rock, fire, and elemental energy which lit up the cosmos in an intense rainbow of colors. And just as quickly, the light dissipated…and the planet of Gaia…was no more.


	2. The Explosion at the Cave

It was a very quiet night as a lone security guard watched a very old monitor. Ancient symbols flashed across the screen in a pattern indecipherable to a younger generation. The guard had been there for a number of hours without a break, and the mind-numbing action of sitting in a chair and watching a monitor was finally getting to him. This was a delicate job and needed his complete attention, but at times he felt like this was nothing more than a ridiculous attempt to justify that the legend would occur. Sometimes, he figured that the Protector didn't truly exist, but at the same time he wondered whether there was any point in waiting. If the Protector was going to show himself, no amount of waiting in front of a screen was going to change when he showed up.

The guard almost nodded off, letting his eyelids close for a minute or so. He opened one eye as a shift in the brightness of the screen concerned him. At first, he thought it was nothing more than a small sensor glitch. As he stared at it longer, the symbols began to rotate around the screen faster as the pattern became hectic. The guard knew very well what was going on. He sat upright and began to start typing into the keypad attached to the monitor. The screen shifted to a different viewpoint, no longer symbols but a map of the world of Gaia. The view jumped around as the guard attempted to scan for what was causing the increase of data. As he centered his search near the town of Crescent Lake, a new scan's results were delivered. His eyes widened even more as he realized what was causing it. He picked up the nearest speaker and called up his supervisor, even though it was the middle of the night.

"Sir, we have a confirmed Timeway. Summon Lord Bahamut."

* * *

In the midst of underground caverns near Crescent Lake, a mixture of a purple and bluish light was pulsating in an excavation clearing. The Protector was upside-down against the far wall, barely conscious after having been thrown out of the gateway. He should have remembered this was going to happen. The Pendant of Time always reacted in an unknown way when attempting to create a stable gateway through time. These Timeways were usually completely unbalanced, but that was to be expected. While it was true that there was no current explanation for how a Timeway worked, Timeways always behaved irrationally. This one just happened to throw the Protector out with a powerful force.

"For the love of…" he grumbled as he rolled over. "I would say that I'm getting too old for this, but I'm either 47 or somewhere around a million. Either way, I think I'm way past what I'd call my prime." He grimaced in pain as he completed his roll onto his stomach. His lower left back was in a large amount of pain; he might likely have a number of badly torn muscles or damaged vertebrae. Raising his left hand slightly, a pool of greenish energy flowed up from the ground and surrounded his hand. Lifting his hand, he reached back to the pain and gently pressed it against the area. He felt the healing powers that he had become so used to over his earlier travels. It was no substitute for an actual doctor, but he found it a useful skill to practice.

The Timeway began to fluctuate, creating an intermittent, and very disturbing, static sound. The Protector looked up, and saw what he feared. The Timeway hadn't fully closed when Gaia was destroyed in the future. The shockwave from the core exploding hadn't yet traveled through the Timeway and caught up with him. There was barely time for the Protector to pull himself up and roll out of the way before a large plume of fire erupted from the Timeway and slammed into the wall where he had previously been laying. The force of the impact shook the walls, sending dirt and debris onto the ground and covering the Protector with a small layer of brown dust. After a few second, he allowed himself to look up and see the Timeway fizzle and decrease in size with each pulse before it finally closed. It was at this point that he realized that he was, without a doubt, in the past.

* * *

The explosion rocking the inside of the mountain had a ripple effect along the outside which traveled down through the topsoil and across the lake towards Crescent Lake. As the ripple pulsed across the lake, it began to pick up speed into a small wave. Even though the explosion had knocked some people off their feet, their first instinct had been that the mountain might have been just an ages old volcano that had never erupted and never would. When the wave crashed over them and did nothing more than flood the town with a few inches before receding, the townspeople decided they were luckier than they could have been.

"What was that?" asked a little scared boy who had tripped during the flood. He had skinned his knee on a building support that came loose, and was crying and shaken by the events. He had been walking the opposite direction when the wave came through the town. A man had run out and picked him up, and was who the boy was questioning.

"I don't know," he replied. "I've never experienced the lake coming over the town fencing."

"Perhaps we need to increase their height so something like this doesn't happen again!" came as an unsolicited reply from another man who was helping other children who unfortunately had become caught in the sweeping motion of the water. "I wonder," he thought out loud, "why our friend Lukahn did not warn us of this. We could have prevented the water from reaching us!"

An elderly man pushed his way through the water as it finally started to decrease in height. "Just because someone can see the future doesn't mean that the future is always so clear." Everyone in the town recognized the leader of the Circle of Sages, one of the most powerful groups of prophets and seers on Gaia. He began to help clear up debris. "We need to explore why this happened, and I know this is going to be a very concerning expedition. I need people willing to go with me and determine what happened up in the caverns." A number of hands immediately arose, causing the leader to nod his head. He continued sarcastically, "Any takers?"

* * *

The Protector felt something he hadn't ever felt at this point in time. His first instinct was to ignore the gut feeling, but years of experience had trained him to mostly operate on instinct. Now, he could sense a difference in the balance. Right now, there should have only been one Fiend alive. Something was wrong; he felt two. Whatever it was he was sensing, he could feel it heading for Crescent Lake. He was certain he could stay hidden. He had powers that would allow him to remain unseen by most of the population; but there were certain people who would be able to sense his presence.

As he finished dusting off the debris, the Protector looked around before he kept moving. There would indeed come a time when he wanted them to know who he was; if he wasn't careful, though, he might scare the people he needed to be on his side. As he maneuvered his way towards the main entrance of the cave system, he determined that he had two courses of action he could take. Either he could fly west and risk being seen by the citizens of the country of Elfland or simply head to the east and pretend that he had been dropped off by a passing ship. Knowing the citizens of Elfland, the Protector decided on heading towards Crescent Lake. He didn't want to have to deal with people seeing through any guises he used. Unfortunately, the Elvish had keen magical senses that would be able to tell whether what they were seeing was real.

Real. He had no clue what was real anymore. This was a world before a number of events occurred that he remembered. A world that could have those events prevented. He would never experience the future world again that he came from; he resigned himself to that fate the moment he walked into the Timeway and arrived in the past. Anyone nearby could have seen the look of determination on his face and decide that he was not going to back down. Even the best warrior in the world would have kept his distance. The Protector wanted to prevent only one thought from occurring in everyone's minds: that he was on the warpath. Over the years the accusations of being on the warpath took its toll on how he chose to see himself. After losing his friends, family, and his loved one, the Protector had grown accustomed to hating who he had become. And now that the Celestial Order couldn't follow him into the past, he had the freedom to change things and give himself a better life.

As he climbed out of the cavern, he thought about what that might mean. Would who he was still exist, or would he fade away into a place of nothingness? Would he still meet all the same people he had enjoyed the company of for so long? These were questions even the Celestial Order didn't dare try to answer. For someone from Gaia, they may have offered a guess, but when it came to the Protector they had no clue what would happen. He knew that was the real reason they wanted him to go back to Earth: there was no way for them to know what would happen if he were to try and change his own timeline to prevent the war. They trusted him to change the past before, but this time was different. Where he currently stood, he was on Gaia before the very first journey he went through: the very first time he saved Gaia. Not by much, a few days, but enough to cause changes to the timeline that could either prevent the war or make it a hundred times worse.

It wasn't until the Protector stood on the greenest grass that he had seen in years that it truly struck him that he was standing on a different world. He knelt down a split second before blasting off into the air towards the eastern port. He breathed in the air, feeling how cool it was as it passed through his lungs. There was no smell of destruction. While it was the same Gaia, the "nuclear wasteland" was, for so many years of his life, what the Protector had been forced to live in. The classical elemental energy that Gaia radiated had long been contaminated by the way the Magi had upset their natural balance; the Protector was unusual in that his own life force was attached to the way Gaia's energy flowed. Even though he was not born on Gaia, he had a much stronger attachment to the planet than most of the population. For the most part, he had always thought this was a good thing for him. When the planet cried out, he felt a similar twinge of pain; on some level he always took it to be an aspect of a telepathic connection.

* * *

If the Protector had not been so focused on carrying out his plan, he might have realized that there were monsters watching him and hatching a plan of their own. Had the Protector waited, he might have heard, telepathically in his native language, the conversation they were having.

"Weeeee musssttt innnforrrrmmm the masssstttttterrrrrr!" said one of the larger monsters to his smaller subordinates. They started to move about frantically, as if just the mention of their master was enough to scare them.

"MASSSSTTERRRRR!" they shrieked in response.

"Sssssssssssssssstopppppppp!" the larger monster cried out. "Heeeeeeee isssssssss alreadddddddy herrrrrrreeeeee!"

A glowing crystal appeared in front of them, changing every few seconds so that the shimmer it gave off shifted between red, blue, green, and yellow. Everyone in the room bowed to the crystal, followed a split second later by the larger monster standing up.

"Report," came a voice from beyond the crystal, as if it were only there as a form of communication. There was an echo in the voice, as if the device was distorting the communication between the two ends. Nobody would dare question the "master" on it, for fear of retaliation. It was apparent that the "master" preferred to work in that capacity.

"Therrrrreeee isssss a newwwwcommmerrrrrr….verrrry powwwerrrrrfulllll…."

"I take it by your lack of faith in our plan that even that blasted prophet didn't see this coming?" There was a pause where nobody said anything. "I can see that is indeed the case. Well, for now, it is of no consequence. Let him be. For now, I have no reason to worry. And if he so decides to get in my way, then I'll do what I plan on doing to those blasted Light Warriors when they end up trying to get in my way…I'll kill him."


	3. Arrival at the Lake

A rustle in the edge of the forestry was the only visible clue that something was moving between the trees. Those who were attuned to the elements would have known it wasn't the wind; the wind has stopped blowing months ago. The air was starting to become stagnant. Had they been able to see minute distortions in the energy surrounding the forest, the Protector would have been visible as he slowed to a halt, rolling backwards slightly so his feet were below him as he landed. Lowering himself to the ground as the rustling came to a stop, he noticed that the trees slowly unbent back to their natural contour.

He looked around, knowing that something was different in the air. Things had begun to change, although he had accepted that was inevitable. He hoped that it would not be by much; he wanted to be certain that who he was didn't change as well. What concerned the Protector was that there was a different feel in this part of the world than there should have been. Normally, a high level of energy could be felt around Crescent Lake due to the Circle of sages; right now, he could still feel that element present, but the Protector grimaced as he felt a sinister edge. Something far more powerful than the combined energy of all of the Circle of Sages was getting dangerous close to Crescent Lake. With any luck, he would get there first and be able to protect everyone. The original chain of events needed to stay as they were; the town of Crescent Lake could not be destroyed.

As he stepped out onto the forest edge, the Protector was met with an unintended sight; a middle-aged man sitting on the edge of a rock, just staring back at him. Unlike most of the older population of Crescent Lake, this man's face was clean-shaven. A small knapsack that was gently laid against the side of the rock was partially open, allowing the Protector to see some of the provisions on the inside. Crescent Lake was an hour's journey from here by boat and much longer by foot; this man had specifically made his way out here in order to meet the Protector. The same Protector who was now looking back at the forest turned back to meet eyes with the man, raising his left eyebrow to question what exactly the man had seen. Or at least, what he thought he had seen.

"Most people would have used a boat to get around," the man said. "But I suppose flying is a much more economical way of travel. More direct." He smiled as he saw the Protector shamefully put a hand on his neck. He knew he had caught the Protector off guard, even though he hadn't gone out of his way just to do so. This man had a split-second thought regarding the imagery he had prophesized about a man appearing out of nowhere.

His thought was easily picked up by accident by the Protector. It was an unintended consequence of being partially telepathic. Being close enough or within a relatively short distance while someone concentrate usually left him with a vague impression of what they were thinking about. This normally didn't bother him, as with a number of people "thinking out loud", the thoughts he picked up on usually resulted in a soft white noise effect. It was easy for him to ignore the thoughts as background noise.

"Well, I didn't expect anybody would actually see me flying around. Nor did I expect anybody to be waiting for me to emerge from the forest." Without foreknowledge of the future, it would have been impossible to know he would be there. Of course, the fact that anyone would have known he was going to be here in the first place confused the Protector. He was from a future that this world would hopefully never experience; for that fact alone, this man should not have had the ability to foresee his presence. Being here in this "present", he was a being out of time; anything he did was to be, in short, unexpected.

The man stood up and slung his knapsack over his shoulder. "Well, now that you are here, it's time for us to head back to the town." He noticed the Protector staring at him. The Protector was concerned that within a few short moments, this man was already expecting assistance from him. Or, perhaps, the man was expecting that he would be able to help the Protector. Either way, his concern was easily observed by the man. "Funny…how your future has a way of creeping up on itself, isn't it?"

With that statement made, the Protector understood who he was talking to. Nobody except Lukahn, the Sage of Time, would ever mention time in such a nonchalant manner without breaking his stride. As the Protector follow Lukahn, he thought hard about how much of an effect he was already having. "You ARE the Sage of Time, the one called Lukahn. I'm concerned that I haven't been here more than an hour or two. Things could not have changed that much…at least, not this fast."

For a few minutes, the pair moved towards the nearby stream which separated the forest from the town, Lukahn remaining quiet after the Protector's assertion. It was evident that his silence was truly used to stall while he thought. It took them reaching the clearing by the stream for Lukahn to speak up.

"You are the Protector. You have arrived to save the world of Gaia. That's how simple it is."

The Protector stopped walking mid-stride, reflecting on Lukahn's statement. He stared at the ground for a few minutes as the Sage walked ahead. Assuming Lukahn would have a canoe hidden somewhere around here to make the trip faster, the Protector let himself have a few moments to stand there and decide how to respond to Lukahn's belief that the situation was simplistic. It was far from that; he couldn't even imagine what would happen if he stopped all the things that were happening to Gaia right now. Or would happen. Did his task need to change as the ripples he had already made affected the timeline?

No. He had to wait. It wasn't his task, at least not at this age. His past self…Lukahn was confusing the two of them without realizing it. But there was no way for the Sage to know, so the confusion had to be accepted as a normal part of changing the timeline. All Lukahn could possible know was there was a Protector standing in his midst.

For Lukahn, that was enough. When he returned, pulling the canoe behind him, he could tell the Protector was deep in thought. Instead of saying anything, he stepped aboard and quietly offered a hand to the Protector to join him on the sail across the stream. The Protector was almost comatose for a few seconds before realizing what was going on around him. He graciously took the Sage's hand and stepped aboard. It was going to be slow sailing across the stream as they headed for the town, but even as the sun was beginning to set, the Protector could see the outline of the town appear along the horizon.

About halfway across the stream, the Protector spoke up. "You know, I could have simply flown into town if something was of such dire need that you felt you had to come to me. But, I guess things aren't as simple as they could be. There are times that I wish it were as simple as you've put it." His voice shook. "But it's not. So many other things are going on right now that I can't even begin to explain. I'm not exactly who you are looking for, who you think I am. I have things that I have to deal with as of now to ensure everything continues as it needs to. Messes that I'm slowly realizing I'm the one who has to clean them up."

Lukahn didn't say anything. In a way, the silence that lasted between the brief instances of dialogue said more than the words ever could. He had heard the stories of the Protector. The things he could do. The lives he would touch. When he imagined what the Protector would look like, what he would sound like, this was not what he had imagined. This was not the same man; or was it? Was there an extra part of the story that nobody told and nobody wanted to hear?

"You aren't at all what I expected," Lukahn finally admitted as they were pulling up on the shore just south of Crescent Lake. "You don't act like the person that the stories portray."

"Times change. In the blink of an eye, you can go from enjoying everything going on around you to hating the decisions you've made and wishing you could change them. There was something going on behind the scenes. Something I couldn't see happening. Perhaps that's why I did what I did before I showed up here."

"And what was that?"

The Protector looked on in silence as he stepped off the canoe, staring at the towering buildings of the town. At first, Lukahn thought it was just the Protector lost in his memories or not wanting to answer; it was a few moments before he realized there was something out of place. Lukahn looked around the town. It looked darker than before. There was a natural glow to the city against the sunset, but this seemed artificial.

"What's going on in town?" the Protector asked. "This didn't happen originally."

Lukahn quickly looked at the Protector. "What do you mean by that?"

The Protector quickly darted his eyes back away. "Never mind. It's not important. I have to go stop her." He sprinted to head towards the town, at least, Lukahn _thought_ he was sprinting. While he tried to keep up with the Protector, Lukahn couldn't be certain whether or not the Protector was actually still on the ground. Even if the Protector was not what he expected, Lukahn certainly was impressed by the way he felt he could just head straight in to a battle. Right now, however, the Protector seemed to know what was going on…and that worried Lukahn.

When Lukahn finally arrived at the edge of the town, the sight before him scared him. The entire town was bursting with flames. People were darting back and forth with buckets trying to put out the fire. This was almost an oxymoron: a town with the word 'Lake' in its name being engulfed in flames.

"How can this be happening? We don't have anything that could start a fire, at least not one as large as this!" Lukahn exclaimed.

"That's because it's not an accident. This was done on purpose. As a warning."

"A warning? From who? For what? What did we do?"

The Protector swallowed and cleared his throat. "From Marilith, the Fire Fiend. My presence here woke her up early. She wasn't supposed to have awoken until after Lich was defeated. I'm surprised you didn't see that coming. Times are changing faster than I anticipated. I would have figured that if you determined that I was going to be out on the mainland coming out of that forest that you would have seen Marilith heading for the town."

"I guess changing the future messes with the ability to prophesize. Do you really think this is because of you?"

"I can tell I've given you enough clues for you to piece together that I'm from the future. I came back to change a certain part of the past; but I didn't think things would change this drastically. The first time around, I guess you could call it, Marilith did not awaken this early. Which means I need to fix this, as it shouldn't be happening."

The Protector started moving forward towards the center of the town. He walked with a sense of determination that Lukahn didn't notice before. As he walked, Lukahn swore that the Protector's aura began to glow with a pulsating rainbow color. It was as if the Crystals were strengthening him; Lukahn knew that couldn't be the case because right now the Crystals were shattered and not functioning right due to the Fiends. Those Fiends were causing problems; hopefully, the Protector would be able to put things right. But if the Crystals weren't empowering him…what was?

"Marilith…I know you are here! Come out from your hiding and show yourself!" the Protector said as he arrived in the center of town. "You shouldn't be awake yet! Why are you terrorizing the population of Crescent Lake?"

The citizens who were still trying to put out the fires stopped for a moment to see this newcomer talking to the fire. At first, they thought he was crazy; who would be talking to nothing more than a flame? When some of the fires started to come together maybe twenty or so feet in front of the Protector, they realized he wasn't joking. This wasn't some random fire; it was a being with control over the element itself.

As it finished coming together, Marilith appeared. She was a fire elemental; her skin tone various hues of red. Her lower body was that of a rather large snake, but her upper body had a humanoid appearance of a beautiful and entrancing young woman, albeit with four arms, each sporting a sword. The Protector always wondered if Marilith was born that way, or if something had happened in the past to make her so. Regardless, it didn't change what he had to avoid doing. This was not her time to die…nor was it his.

"So, you are the powerful one I was warned about?" Marilith questioned. The way she said it made everyone uncertain whether she expected an answer or not. She smirked, giving away that she figured her skills were more than a match for any super-powered 'mortal'. "Well, you certainly are correct when you say I shouldn't be awake yet. My time is not yet ready, but apparently our Master believes you to be worthy of me looking into."

"And so you figured since I would be heading for Crescent Lake, that you might as well have a little fun and start the party early," the Protector said, never once changing his position between her and the rest of the town. He stood there staring at her, but never reached for a weapon. He crossed his arms. It was evident that he was not going to back down, even against one of the Fiends. Either he was crazy or he actually believed he could stop her. It was that crossroads of smart and stupid that Marilith believed he was standing it; what mattered is which road he decided to head down next.

"You could say that," Marilith said. "Glad you could make it to the party. Too bad you didn't dress for it. It's going to be a hot time tonight."

"Sorry, but had I known, I would have prepared for it." He snapped his fingers and a bright light blinded everybody for a split second. When the light subsided, the Protector was now in a rather strikingly white cloak and had his right hand stretched out to the side aimed down at the ground. Lukahn realized that he had never noticed exactly what the Protector was wearing before now as plain as it was; but the white was such a drastic change that it was hard not to notice.

"Now that is what I call hot," Marilith stated, putting on an overly flirtatious tone. "But you think you can just take me on without any weapon?"

"If a weapon is what you want, then I will by all means oblige," the Protector responded, ignoring her playful attempts to get him to lower his guard. A glow started to form in his hand, as the outline of a sword began to appear. In a few seconds, the outline of the sword gave way to the blade itself. It was one that everyone knew just by sight.

"The Holy Masamune?" Marilith shrieked in fear. This was no mere mortal anymore standing in front of her. This was the one person she feared ever fighting staring back at her. This was something that even her Master could not have predicted. How could he? This shouldn't be happening. In another lifetime, Marilith could remember what power that blade held.

The Protector just smiled, knowing he had her full attention as the blade glistened a red hue with the reflection of the town's fire. "So, shall we get this party started?"


	4. Lake of Fire

"Well, how long shall we stare at each other, Marilith?" the Protector said, never once looking away. "One of us is going to have to make a move at some point." He knew her focus wasn't on his words but on his weapon. Her eyes were locked on the Masamune. Anyone might have mistaken her reaction to the Masamune's presence as fear, but the Protector knew better. She was not staring in awe as others would, but rather in utter terror. Simple fear would have sufficed if it was just the sword that she was afraid of. The fear elevated to terror because she was afraid of it being in _his_ hands.

The Masamune. The Holy Blade, given its name since it was highly reflective of light; a keen blade, a white hue surrounded the metal. No one truly understood where the white glow came from. Many scholars had originally assumed that the blade simply radiated its own energy, but there were so many different opinions that scientists wrote dissertations attempting to truly determine the source of the blade's power. Over time, it became obvious that the hue of the glow was dependent on the power of the one holding it. At Crescent Lake, one might come to the same conclusion since when the Protector brought the Masamune up in to the air, tossing it back and forth, the hue disappeared for a split second when it was no longer in contact with either of his hands.

While most of the town continued to work on putting out the fires Marilith's continued presence caused, the remainder focused on either the Protector or his sword; no one either cared or dared to look at Marilith anymore. Recognizing this, Marilith's emotional state switched between fear and awe. Staring at the sword, she could clearly see the guard. In the shape of the crescent moon, it covered most of the backside of the Protector's hand when he wielded it. The pommel at the base of the hilt split into two counterbalances, both of which curved back towards the sword, each ending a small sphere. This reflected the legend that, although the Protector was in part of Gaia, he was actually not of this world.

"I suppose you think you have the ability to stop me?" Marilith questioned. "I've got six blades to your one." She smirked, hoping the revelation that not only did she have six arms but that each had its own blade would throw the Protector off-guard long enough for her to either do enough damage to him or escape while she still had the change.

"You've chosen your words well, Marilith." The Protector stood in place, not moving; he wasn't going to give Marilith the satisfaction of thinking she was scaring him. In all reality, he was worried. "I'm certainly going to stop you from destroying Crescent Lake. If you leave now, I will not give chase. Your choice."

Only the screams from the outskirts of town and the crackling of the fires were still heard; everybody that had been watching the interchange between the Protector and Marilith had frozen in place when the Protector had declared Marilith was free to leave. The Protector could tell they were angry that he was just going to let her walk away after causing such disaster. However, he knew better than to try and change things more than his presence already had. He had a different goal than to destroy her now.

"You really think I'm just going to walk out of here now that this town has seen me?" Marilith questioned, figuring the Protector would be stupid enough to attack her just to protect the town. Unfortunately her thought proved wrong as he just stood there, staring back at her. She was starting to get nervous that she'd have to go crazy and use her more powerful spells in order to get him to react. Having just woken up a few hours earlier, she wasn't at her full strength; this was not a fight she was looking forward to. Something told her that's what he was counting on.

"I was hoping you would. I don't want to have to fight you, but I will if you force me to," the Protector said, standing his ground both figuratively in his words and literally in his presence. The only change came when he shifted his weight, bringing his left hand up to his mouth to cover a deep cough. His left hand quickly returned to his side, effectively balancing the weight of the Masamune from the right side. The Protector tilted his head a few degrees to the left to look at the fires around town. He desperately wanted to get her to act instead of talking; he could then carry the fight away from the town. He needed her to act first, though; any action he took could be easily turned against him.

Marilith had a hard time determining whether the Protector was even alive. Only his movements and very light breathing gave any hint. Even just the simple act of breathing was beginning to send a chill through Marilith's nerves. She had to act fast. Perhaps if she made a rather large distraction, she might be able to escape. She heard the words that he would let her go, but there was no emotion in the way he said it. There was no feeling behind the words; she could only think it wasn't going to be safe to believe him.

Marilith flung her arms to the side, throwing massive globs of fire into the air. Some of them landed on the ground and just singed the dirt; others managed to make it all the way to buildings, which immediately started to burn. She smiled, lowering her chin to just above her chest. "You think that you can stop the destruction of this town? I'd like to see you try." Had she been clearly thinking about what was going on, she would have realized in the next few seconds when he spoke how horrible of an idea it was to test the Protector.

"I gave you a choice…and now you've made it."

There were those chills again. Marilith watched as the Protector silently turned away from her. He walked slowly, dragging the Masamune through the dirt; his pace was constant even though it seemed like each step took longer than the last to complete. He made his way over to the edge of the water mill just south of the center of town and stopped. His head bobbed as he looked from side to side as if formulating a plan.

He rolled his head, popping the air out of his joints as he prepared to put his plan into motion. However, instead of doing what everyone expected, the Protector just turned and walked away. Marilith was just as dumbfounded as the population of Crescent Lake was. Their confusion was brief; a low rumbling started to echo throughout the town. To everyone's mixture of horror and amazement, part of the river flowing through the water mill floated up into the air. Everyone was scared because they knew the Protector was causing this; anyone with that much power should be feared…the feeling that Marilith continued to be filled with.

Going up against one of the four Fiends, however, was like asking for a swift death. They were, up until the Protector's presence, the four most powerful beings, each one specializing in a different elemental alignment. Marilith, obviously, was the Fiend of Fire. While most might think of fire as the most destructive of the four classical elements, the Protector could tell Marilith was young and only coming into her powers. She was uncertain and questioning her every decision…and that included how she should be dealing with his being there.

It was, therefore, no surprise to him that she jumped backward, confused as to what was going on, when he dropped his head and the floating stream of water shot out towards all the houses, instantly dousing the flames attempting to burn them down. Marilith immediately became concerned that she would be unable to hold her own against such a powerful being. She committed herself to a fight when she tossed the flames at the homes, and she was about to show that she was not going to back down.

"This is between you and me, Marilith. I think we'll be able to keep from causing these people any problems," the Protector responded. "Unless you plan on actually trying to win. In which case, we may have those problems anyways. And I _don't_ like having to deal with problems."

The certainty of the Protector's statement made Marilith feel that she needed to prove she was ready to be the Fiend of Fire and was a force to be reckoned with; and this was the perfect fight in which to do that. She snarled as she lashed out with two of the three arms on her right side, slamming down where the Protector was standing, sending a large dust cloud into the air which prevented anyone from seeing what was going on. He hadn't moved nor had he blocked her attack; but when she pulled her blades out of the ground, a large blast of air cleared the area of the dust. There was the Protector, now in mid-air. He was unharmed, as if her attack had never even hit him.

Instead of quickly retreating, Marilith growled deeper than she had before. She was frustrated that he was making her out to be a fool. She blasted a massive heat wave along the ground, blowing holes in the ground every few feet which quickly become lava plumes. The lava plumes exploded five or six feet in the air, more than enough to reach the Protector's current height. He swung his right arm down, throwing the Masamune into the next hole a split second before it erupted. The tip of the blade jammed into the ground, with the hilt covering the other edge of the hole. A glow appeared covering the entire opening of the hole, preventing anything from escaping. The hole started to build up pressure, threatening to explode. The Protector walked over the hole, standing on top of the Masamune. He raised his left eyebrow, smirking before snapping his middle finger and right thumb together, causing the Masamune to flip over. The blade knocked him in the air, causing him to backflip before hitting the ground. The energy that had been building up trying to push out of the hole was immediately slammed backwards, having the interesting effect of knocking back the heat wave towards Marilith. Marilith, not knowing why he would do such a thing, simply absorbed the spell back into herself. The Protector, following suit, snapped again to recall the Masamune into his hand. It faded from over the hole and appeared, as if by magic, back in his hand.

"What is the deal with you?" Marilith asked of the Protector. She couldn't understand it; was he playing a mind game with her? Here was this man who was the most powerful being in all of the legends…and he was merely matching her attacks. He could have used that water to do some major damage to her, yet he only used it to put out the fires she started. He could have simply avoided all of the explosions she sent his way, but instead he returned the fire to her. Was he stalling…or was he instead keeping some sort of status quo that she wasn't aware of?

"If you are asking yourself why I'm going out of my way to not harm you, I have my reasons that will eventually become clear," he responded, almost as if directly responding to what she was thinking. He gently relaxed his muscles, floating back down to the ground. His left knee was bent so his toes were pointing down, affording him some stability as he neared the dirt. His right foot touched down first, and he sort of "bounced" off the ground like it was cushioning his landing. His left foot took its place shoulder length apart from the other; he proceeded to roll his head again before regaining his earlier stare at Marilith. "Your life is not in danger at this moment, but your time will indeed come, Marilith."

Marilith breathed in deeply. She was overly frustrated. She couldn't think straight. This man was playing with her! He had powers beyond her imagination and he was doing nothing more than playing a game with her life! She didn't like his statement that the end of her life was coming. In fact, she didn't want to live knowing that fact. Any of the other Fiends would have shrugged it off and imagined they could prevent their demise. She had always thought those three were self-centered; even so, she had given herself to the Master freely so that she might one day rule her own little portion of the world. Or rather, what was going to be left of the world by that point.

So…who was this man who stood before her? Her only guess as to the answer was that he was some crazy lunatic whose powers had warped his mind so this game was the only way he could interact. She wasn't ready to risk it all on this game and lose her life. Not yet. Things still had to go according to her Master's plan. She could not die before then.

"You say my life is not in danger, yet you admit that I will one day die," she responded. "You are quite the confusing one."

"Your fate was sealed the moment you swore your oath to the Master. His downfall was foretold long before I existed," the Protector returned to her. He knew she would take this information back to the Master and that it would certainly bring him worry. He actually hoped that they would get spooked and would stay out of his way. This run in with Marilith was too early for both her and…well…him. He could not afford to run into them again; the only real reason he was here in the first place standing up to Marilith was because she did not attempt to destroy Crescent Lake originally. In a way, her presence here was his fault, so he felt obligated to correct that. He just needed a way to distract them from his presence.

"Your death, Marilith, will not be by the hand of the Protector."

If his statement was meant to get Marilith's attention, it certainly worked. She was no longer afraid of him. He had given her reason to figure somebody else was stronger than him. This would hopefully distract the Fiends and their Master long enough for the original chain of events to reassert themselves. The Protector could only smile slightly when Marilith began to hurriedly move towards the northern edge of town. She never said anything…she just…disappeared.

All of the townspeople except for Lukahn began cheering at Marilith's departure. Lukahn was staring at the ground with a concerned look on his face. Although the Protector started towards the inn, he stopped when he noticed Lukahn wasn't joining in with the rest of the town in rejoicing. They both exchanged an understanding look. The Protector knew Lukahn had an idea of what was about to occur, and Lukahn was certain the Protector knew so much more than he was letting on. Both of them, however, shared a sigh of relief that the encounter was over.

The Protector walked up to Lukahn, and attempted to reassure him by placing a hand on his shoulder. Lukahn looked at the Protector, wondering what exactly the world of Gaia had become involved in. Perhaps the Protector would tell him when the time was right. Or, maybe, Gaia was always destined to endure such troubled times…just as Lukahn could tell the Protector had endured many in his earlier years.

The Protector kept moving towards the inn, never looking back. "Come, my new friend," the Protector began. "There is much we need to discuss with the Circle of Sages."


	5. The Pioneers of War

Sitting in the restaurant at the inn, the Protector's glance continually shifted as he focused on different things in his surroundings. He remembered how his entire life was a series of journeys, traveling with those closest to him. He never stopped to see the small details in the background; he never felt he had the time. He noticed things he never took the time to notice. It was a strange sensation for him to be seeing the reactions of people after having protected them. For decades, his traveling party had always moved on before anyone could thank them. True, to some extent he never wanted to be thanked; he just wanted people to have the freedom to move on with their lives. Yet, here he was, constantly being congratulated on a job well done and hearing repeated utterances of "thank you" and "you are a godsend" out of people as they clamored to catch up a close view of the Protector. It was an unnerving feeling; he badly wished he could leave before more people came up to him.

Lukahn, to the Protector's relief, realized what was going on, and quickly herded the remaining people out of the inn. They were upset as he guided them to the door, but at his assurance that there would be time for that and the Protector had a reason for his visit, they gladly walked away.

"Within a few hours, you've made quite the name for yourself," Lukahn stated. When he turned back to look at the Protector, Lukahn noticed the look of disdain on his face. "Apparently, that's not something you want."

"It's not something I've ever asked for from anyone. I've become used to people thanking me. I know they do it. But I'm not used to actually hearing it. It's a big change for me." The Protector shifted in his seat, sliding down a few inches. He grabbed a hat that had been left behind by one of the townspeople, and placed it on his head. He pushed it down far enough that Lukahn couldn't see his eyes anymore. "For years, I traveled alone. I eventually gained friends that didn't shy away from me even after finding out what I was capable of."

"You are capable of saving so many people, my new friend," Lukahn responded. He was trying to reassure the Protector. It was awkward to hear the most legendary hero of Gaia talking as if he were a common man. Lukahn was a scholar of history and a prophet of the future. He knew how history was always written: this reflective side of the Protector would never have been included in any books. People wanted a hero they could believe in, someone who they could look up to as a role model with no faults. That's why Lukahn always used to believe the Protector was a myth. Nobody was perfect. To say that the Protector was perfect made him sound like a god-like being. While Lukahn didn't like to see someone feeling uncomfortable; the fact that the Protector was just as normal as everyone else made it easier for him to accept this was indeed the hero he was always told of, even if it didn't align with what the books spoke of.

"Power is power; I learned that the hard way." The Protector raised his hand, a hat appearing by some subconscious power. He placed it on his head, tapping the underside of the brim of the hat just hard enough that the lower edge of his eyes could once again be seen. Lukahn walked over and sat at the table opposite the Protector, eager to listen to the story the Protector might be about to tell. "It can be used for bad just as much as it can be used for good. It's all a matter of who is in control."

"But you are the Protector. You are one of the most pure-hearted people in the world." Lukahn noticed the Protector cringe at the statement. What could possibly have happened that would make him not like being a pure-hearted individual? He didn't want to press the matter, but he felt he needed to. "Your powers would never be used for evil and destruction. You save lives."

"You would assume that. I used to assume that. But there are times in my life that have made me question that. For the first few years, I always figured I was just doing something good." The Protector's chin dropped a few inches as he looked down. There was a rather sad tone to his voice. He spoke slower than he had during the fight with Marilith. "Things started to change. I was young and naïve; I didn't understand how people could say such good things but have such devious plans in their heads. I was taken advantage of…" His voice cracked. "I never lived it down. That's why I say that power is only power until you use it. Then it becomes good or evil. Yes, I save lives…but at times it's also destroyed them."

"Why are you here?" Lukahn leaned forward as he waited while a few seconds of silence passed between them. "You never told me. You keep showing reasons as to why you _could_ be here, but when it comes down to it, you haven't yet disclosed your real purpose, have you?"

The Protector cleared his throat. "The Magi."

Lukahn attempted to lean back, but didn't move, evidently frightened by the words. The Magi were as well known as the Protector was to Lukahn. Stories of the Protector were always the stuff of bedtime stories and inspirational speeches; those of the Magi were meant to instill fear and distress, usually as some means of political or social gain. Nobody believed the Magi existed…they had been defeated thousands of years before. They couldn't exist anymore. It was impossible…or was it?

The Protector decided to be fully direct and to the point and not hold back. Perhaps a scare tactic would show the dire situation Gaia was facing in its future. "I'm from the future. Very far into the future. A future where Gaia's life ended as it exploded. The Magi set a chain of events in motion that caused what was known in the final days as the 'Final War'. We couldn't stop them." He cleared his throat. "I…couldn't stop them."

"So you decided to go back in time? Why? For what purpose?" Lukahn responded, edging the Protector on so as to get the rest of the story out. This was something that needed to be said. The more information they had, the better the chance they would be able to withstand the attacks of the Magi. Just the mere mention of the name Magi has caused a collective gasp to fill the air as the entire room had gone silent.

There was a massive feeling of fear emanating from those few people who remained in the room. The Protector wanted to get out; he felt cramped. He was in a corner, both in the inn and in the conversation. He stood up, and walked towards the door to the outside. Pushing it open, he looked back at Lukahn. "You wanted to know why I am here? To prevent the Final War from happening in the first place, of course."

When the Protector turned back to watch where he was going, he realized most of if not the entire population of Crescent Lake were staring at him. Just like earlier, he felt a mixture of awe and fear. It was weird for him to be sensing those overactive emotions once more; he was almost certain he had lost that passive ability sometime during the Final War. He was strangely happy that his senses weren't destroyed but only dulled. Perhaps he would have felt better if that sense has completely dissipated; it would have made it easier on him to push forward with what he needed to accomplish.

His mind raced, trying to make sense of the last days of the Final War. His mind fought himself, turning from just a quizzical nature to an adversary in his own right. He was his own devil's advocate. _'Why don't you tell them what you did to get here? Who did you kill in your attempt to justify your pain?' _He tried to shrug it off, but found he couldn't.

"What happened? Why is it so necessary to prevent this war? War is an inevitable part of nature." Lukahn followed him out of the inn, nearly bumping into him as he realized they were surrounded. "It would have to be horrible."

"And you want children to hear this? You really are desperate to hear this, aren't you? It's not going to be pretty. I highly suggest that children should leave. Of course, the final decision is up to you." He looked around at the crowd, but it wasn't the adults he was looking at; it was the children. Even after seeing what could become of such innocence, he wanted them to leave. He didn't want them to hear this. The less they experienced and the less they knew, the better it would be. Well, at least, the smaller the chance any one of them could group up and make a decision to hurt someone.

"Many years from now, during the midst of the Final War, we were called out to a town. They had been extracting energy from Gaia with the intent on harnessing it as ammunition for energy-based weapons. One shot…" said the Protector as he made the image of a gun with his fingers. He turned in a circle as if pointing it at people before continuing. They all stepped back, worried he might actually be able to hurt someone after seeing him scaring off Marilith. "…Lethal. You'd be lucky if there was anything left. We'd figure out ways of defending against these weapons just in time for them to come out with a new version."

The Protector made his way through the crowd towards the water mill. He placed his hand in the water, feeling the refreshing water flow over his hand. Just another comparison that made him feel like at this point in time Gaia was a totally different world. "As we were nearing the port to sneak into the factory, a large quake began. The water began to ripple before erupting into powerful waves that pushed us all over the bay. It was a rough landing, but we finally made landfall. As we stepped off the boat and tried to learn what caused the earthquake, a loud explosion was heard. A few seconds went by before a massive blast of air blew past. People scrambled for cover, many being knocked over. I fell to the ground, clutching my head in agony. A thousand voices screamed out in pain…then fell silent. Imagine what that feels like. An entire city talking at once, something that you get used to. Then…silence. Complete silence."

The Protector stumbled as he attempted to stand back up. He gave up and just fell backwards, sitting down on the ground. "When I finally was able to clear my mind enough to focus, there was this large cloud of green smoke and ash. I floated off to find out what happened, not even caring that those I traveled with would have to take the long route on foot. When they got there, all they saw was me crouching over a doll. The last remnant of an entire city. The energy surge from the explosion leveled the entire city. Nothing was left except this doll. People. Animals. Plants. All gone. Just the doll."

Lukahn sat down next to the Protector. He placed a hand on his shoulder. Even seeing just the profile of the Protector, Lukahn was able to see a tear trickling down his face. This wasn't some story that the Protector was creating as he went…this was the truth. This was something that the Protector was experiencing for a second time as he was explaining. He was reliving it.

"In that one moment, I realized what happened. I knew the Final War had to be prevented from happening. It's one thing to die in a battle during a war. You know it's a possibility. But this…this was a neutral city. This was a small group of people that had nothing to do with what was going on. They died for no reason save one: they lived too close. They died not because of their stupidity…but because of ours."

The Protector's eyes narrowed as he stared at the ground. He dug his heels into the ground, starting to rock back and forth. He was in pain at remembering. Physical, emotional, and mental pain. These were memories no one should ever have to live with. This was a future that he was trying to prevent from happening by stopping the Magi in the present.

"After the supposed dead were counted up, I learned of the horrible cost at which we played this game. Over a thousand people died in less than five seconds…two hundred and thirty-eight of which were _children_. Children…don't understand war or the reasons behind it. _Who the hell_ were we to use _children_ as our testing ground?"

The lines where tears covered the Protector's face drew a horrible picture of the inner turmoil. This was the ultimate price for the Protector: his stability. He was close to breaking down. A man was such strength was reduced to a mindless storyteller intent on preventing a future from happening. Even a young child, as she came up to him, defied everything he expected he would occur. Everybody seemed content to stand by and watch him make a spectacle of himself. At seven or eight years of age, she was about to show him a side of Gaia that he forgot existed: a compassionate side. Was there really something to Gaia worth saving?

"Are you really the Protector?" she asked him.

"In a manner of speaking."

"You've faced evil things?"

"Of course. Way too many times, my dear. Pray you never have to."

She paused, tears creeping into her eyes as she became very frightened. "Are they coming?" her voice cracked, similar to how his had earlier.

The Protector looked at the little girl, more than he had before; he could tell there was something different about the children of this time. Of course, he knew, they were free of the Final War. They were free of any war. They weren't being brought up to hate each other. They had never experienced the destruction and devastation that had existed in the millennia to follow. This was the present he wanted to exist in the future.

"Are _who_ coming?" he finally responded.

"Evil things."

That…he didn't know how to respond to without giving anything about the future away. It was bad enough that Lukahn knew; with him being able to see the future, Lukahn's knowledge of the future was something the Protector could look past. His silence, however, was enough of an answer to the adults that they realized Gaia was about to become a battlefield…unless they could stop things from happening the way they did. In a way, she surprised him once again when she spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Will you protect us? I believe you can." The Protector just looked at her, wondering if times could really have been this simple. Could Gaia have at one point produced such innocence? She was fighting back the tears of worry and fear. The Protector put his arms around her and hugged her for a moment.

_'It's this. This moment. This makes being the Protector worthwhile.'_

He stood up and headed back towards the inn. He was tired and exhausted. He was ready to sleep for the first time in a long time. Not close his eyes and wake up hours later. Actually sleep and relax. While he hadn't yet replied to the little girl, the entire crowd was, in a way, sending him strength. He felt renewed to some degree, as he knew they all believed he could protect them. As he opened the door, he turned back to the girl. His final statement before he disappeared into the inn caused an instantaneous explosion of emotions from the crowd that would resonate for years to come.

"If you believe I can protect you…if you truly put your faith in me to make the right decisions…then I will always protect you."


	6. The First Meeting, a Second Time

The following morning was cool and crisp, with only a slight beam of light blanketing the town of Crescent Lake as the sun slowly rose over the mountains. Very few people were up this early in the morning; Lukahn liked it this way and was happy to count himself among the early risers. As he sat across from the aged Protector, he found himself wishing for both a glimpse into what the Protector was hoping to truly accomplish by coming to the past and a role in the adventure that might be slowly unfolding.

"Do not worry," the Protector started, acknowledging that he was hearing Lukahn's thoughts. "You will have a role. I'm just not certain of what yet." The Protector figured this would take Lukahn by surprise; he was right. Lukahn's reaction was not focused on whether or not he would have a role, but that the Protector was uncertain. The previous night, he seemed to be certain about his plan of action; this morning, it was as if the man sitting across was still the Protector, albeit a slightly different one.

From the Protector's point of view, sitting in the parlor of Lukahn's house allowed him to notice a slight shift in the air. He might have attempted a description that the "feel" of the wind had changed; for lack of a simpler term, the "color" or "hue" was different. As he stared out at the town square, he could see the power of the elements flowing in waves of light, dancing along the outlines of the charred buildings. A breeze of the wind should have been mainly green due to the association with air, or rather, the "Breath of the Planet" as many older generations of Gaians used to call it. To the Protector, even the smallest alteration in the energy patterns would offset the balance and give a distortion to the color which he saw.

That was how he preferred to describe it; it was very hard to explain what he saw and, even more so, how he came to his conclusions. He believed that part of the reason he was able to succeed where so many had supposedly failed as the Protector in the past was because he was not raised on Gaia. This gave him the opportunity to keep himself separated from events and focus on solving problems, because in part it was as if nothing affected him. Yet, he knew that while he could control his emotional state for the most part during a rather intense situation, there was never a time he was truly separated from events. He couldn't help it; he wasn't able to stand by and watch horrible things happen without getting involved.

_'Perhaps,'_ he thought, _'that's what caused me to take such drastic measures in the war. Perhaps…'_

The Protector tried to tell himself that wasn't the case; his actions were due to his desire to save Gaia from its own self-destructive tendencies. A logical person would assumed that as many times as he saved them from themselves, there should have been at least once or twice Gaia's population would have been able to stop such evil without resorting to bringing him into it. There were times he figured that was too high of an expectation; in the end, he was always proven correct. Could his own thought process be the reason he was so good at saving Gaia? If it wasn't, then there was some underlying reason which demanded his presence. True, there was always something that nagged at the back of his mind during each journey, but he never quite managed to figure it out.

It nagged him even now, just like the shift in the wind. It was greenish when he first arrived in the past. The present. The current moment. But it wasn't the past anymore, at least, not _his_ past. He struggled to determine what changed. It certainly dawned on him that the Wind Crystal which governed the "Breath of the Planet" was now shattered; he knew that occurred before he had come to Gaia the very first time. All four Crystals were already damaged by the time his first journey had even started. Even with a partially destroyed Crystal, however, the wind should not have completely died out.

That was what nagged the Protector. The wind hadn't just slowed to an unimaginable speed; it wasn't there at all. Remnants still flowed through the sky, but nothing on a scale he previously noted. Anybody else might have assumed the wind had just "died down". However, the lack of any greenish color where it should be told the Protector that not only was he in the right time but that events were starting to realign themselves with the way they had happened before. Or were they? Marilith awoke early; that alone was different. He hoped he scared her enough to keep her from taking any actions that she hadn't the first time around. He was worried; his past was about to be in jeopardy here, unless of course, he could find a way to control the events so they continued to happen as before.

The lack of the wind's color wasn't the only non-existent element in the room that morning. There was no further conversation. Lukahn stared as the Protector sat along the back wall. Part of the legendary that was the Protector was his desire to prevent war and death. It was rather intriguing to Lukahn that less than twelve hours earlier the legend himself had poured a fragment of his damaged soul about a war that he wanted so desperately to stop but quickly ended up becoming a pawn in. The Protector was a bringer of peace; no one could ever expect he could also be someone who exploded in anger at the mere sight of innocents being destroyed.

_'Is there a good reason?'_ Lukahn thought to himself. _'Is there ever a reason an innocent life can be taken that is justified?'_

"No," said the Protector. He looked up from his downward gaze at the floor for only a fraction of a second; it was long enough that Lukahn realized the Protector was responding to his thoughts. The Protector knew Lukahn was now wondering how easily it was to read another's thoughts. "Let's go with the simple explanation." He repositioned himself so that he was facing Lukahn instead of the wooden floorboards. "No, I'm not reading your mind; I'm just not used to hearing voices the pierce the mental realm. I used to describe it as people thinking 'too loud'. In reality, thoughts of those with strong mental powers such as your and the rest of the Circle of Sages come across as more powerful." He noticed Lukahn was uncertain what he meant. "Louder, perhaps. I did not mean to intentionally hear your thoughts."

Lukahn smiled. "Compared to the description of this Final War you gave last night, I think any loss of mental control for a split second, even something as small as reading another's mind, is forgivable." He looked at the Protector, trying to determine what the actual event which drew him to this point in time was. Certainly, the Protector was here to stop the Magi from wreaking havoc in the future. It wasn't just some random event which the Magi were involved in that he was trying to change; the look on his face told Lukahn the Protector was involved in them in some way.

"It's confusing to try and decide what the chain of events was that drew you here," Lukahn started. "Then again, I'm having a hard time even attempting to think on events that involve time travel. It can create lots of problems."

"Heh," smirked the Protector. "Try being living evidence that time travel is crazy. Any other person might have to take special precautions so as not to be affected by changes to the timeline. There has always been something about me that causes time to act differently about me."

"Must give you an interesting vantage point."

"To some degree. It's really weird. I see things different depending on the situation, but the closest I can describe it is like I'm having a daydream. I'm still the same me I've always been; when the past changes, my memories should change as well. The new memories? They are the daydream. I remember them, but they don't stick out to me as readily as those I started with." The Protector closed his eyes for a moment, as if his presence in the past was changing the timeline and he was experiencing the new memories now. When he reopened his eyes, he noticed Lukahn's face was scrunched up as he tried to understand what the Protector had meant. "It's always hard for people to understand what I mean. Sometimes I ramble. Let's just say it's like I'm seeing someone else's life through their eyes. It's a rather unique experience that I've unfortunately had to live with for some time."

"Perhaps," a voice boomed from the doorway, "you had better stop mucking about in Gaia's history."

Lukahn turned in his chair to see what appeared to be an old man, though by the sheer power that he felt emanating from the man, he was certain the appearance was not the real one. When he turned back to the Protector, he was puzzled by what he saw. The Protector was now standing up as if ready to leave, yet he was leaning against the back wall with a face that told Lukahn the presence of the old man was not only expected, it was a part of the Protector's plan. Could one man have planned things out this far in advance?

"Well, then, my old friend, perhaps we had better stop giving me reasons to go into the past to fix things. Or prevent them."

The old man never once looked in Lukahn's direction. His gaze was always focused on the Protector. The thoughts in his mind were very clear to the Protector: Who was this man? If this is how they meet for the first time, could a certain prophecy be wrong? How did he come here if it wasn't time?

"I assure you," the Protector started in response, "I am the Protector. I'm just not the Protector of this point in time. I'm the future version, and yes, my own presence here is going to cause some problems."

"Such as the Fire Fiend attacking Crescent Lake?" the old man asked.

"Well, that was unintended. You can't really blame me…but, then again, I guess you can. She was not supposed to be awakened for another week. I also didn't think their leader would attempt to draw me out by destroying towns." The Protector rubbed his temple with his right hand. He rotated his hand so that it covered his right eye and cheek. It was evident he was frustrated; things might be changing more than he hoped if his presence was this noticeable. For the time being, the Protector knew that he would have to keep an eye on events and hope things didn't go even worse.

The old man straightened his back slightly, grimacing as he did so and hinting that this was not a form he was used to existing in. He scratched the back of his head where a small insect had landed. Existing in humanoid form was getting difficult to maintain, and the old man began looking to take the conversation towards an end, one that both he and the Protector knew what it entailed. Only Lukahn was confused as to how they knew each other.

"I know why you are here," the old man started. He bit his lower lip, expecting the Protector to say something more concrete that he could go off. By the way the old man stood, almost as if standing in a mirrored stance to that of the Protector, Lukahn fully believed this was someone who had the power to do something. He would be able to put a plan of action together to prevent the Magi from causing a war. However, they had to act now; they couldn't wait.

Instead, they just stood there, staring at each other. "Of course you do," the Protector said, keeping eye contact with the old man. "You were in the crowd last night. But then again," he said as he started to walk towards the door, albeit very slowly. "You figured I already knew that."

Lukahn spent a few moments looking back and forth between the two of them. It was like watching a showdown between two warring factions that were oddly polite without actually being so. Their conversation was never hostile, though the old man seemed to be angry that the Protector was here in the first place. Did the Protector go against some set of rules, some guidance that the old man had…or would put into place?

"Yes," was the Protector's response, even though nothing had been spoken. It was apparent that although the Protector was answering Lukahn's thought, he had directed the answer towards the old man. The Protector came to a halt just inches away from the old man. "Lukahn's thought is right. And that confirms your worst fear, doesn't it?"

"Why would you come back to the past without following the rules?" the old man asked.

"Rules." The Protector shook his head. "We didn't have time for rules. Your first instinct was to send me home. As you put it, it wasn't my job to set things right. I…" He trailed off. The Protector didn't move and didn't blink. He just continued to stand his ground for the next few minutes while nothing was said. The old man matched him move for move, to the point where Lukahn figured that neither of them were breathing. Lukahn had never seen anybody move so little.

"Then you should have followed our instructions and went home…whatever you'd consider your home," the old man said. "There are reasons we don't allow time travel, especially when it comes down to possibly altering the entire history of Gaia."

"I came back actually _intending_ to do just that!" the Protector exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air and walking back to his previous position on the opposite side of the room. "Urgh! I can't believe you are just as stupid now as you will be then." He shook his head before placing his head against the wall. Even though the sun was just beginning to rise over the mountains through the mid-morning, the wall felt cool against his forehead. "You are one of the most arrogant people that I will know!"

"Excuse me?" the old man said, surprised the Protector was making such a statement. The legends always spoke of him as a reserved personality, keeping things to himself that most other people would lash out with to either get a point across or to create an opportunity to take advantage of someone. He supposedly never said a bad thing about anyone, and Lukahn couldn't believe that he was bad-mouthing someone who was in a position to help.

"You heard me. In the future, we figured out who the Magi were, at least we thought we did. We never got the chance to test out the theory. If we did, imagine what we could do. Or what we could have done. We'd know their weakness and that could have been exploited now to prevent their future atrocities." The Protector quickly walked back to the old man, speaking as he walked. "We had the time. We could have found out for certain. But you were too egotistical and told me I needed to go home. That this was a Gaian matter. The Magi were always your problem. And I _hated_ you for saying that. For over thirty years of my life, I had been at your beck and call. Gaia needed me to help keep it on a good course before, so why should this time be any different? You could never give me an answer on that. You…" he said, pointing at the old man, anger and frustration finally beginning to vent. "You…turned away from me. After saving so many lives…after we did so much good…you didn't even give me the chance to try."

The old man didn't know what to say. He didn't have an answer, and in a way, he was certain he didn't want to have an answer. There should be no reason he wouldn't give the Protector the chance to find out more about their enemy. If there was a way to end the war, prevent it from getting worse, or prevent it from even starting, then he should have sent the Protector back to try and figure out what to do. It was a really scary thought to the old man that he would have turned his back on the Protector, which in a way was him basically giving up on Gaia. This was his world…he should be trying to save it every chance he could.

"We could have stopped this. Children didn't need to die. Families didn't need to be destroyed," said the Protector, now in a darker tone and more subdued than before. He was switching gears again from being on the offensive to a more defensive stance. He didn't want to remember what he was trying to prevent, only that he was trying to prevent it.

"So, what can we do?" the old man asked. "You have an idea of who they are, meaning if we can find out if what you think is true, we will have a way of tracking them."

"First, you need to pull your head out of the hole you've had it in, Bahamut," the Protector said, causing a rather shocked Lukahn to become frightened. Bahamut was the most powerful of the Ancients, a group of people who were legendary in their own right. Their powers were rumored to have exceeded the Protector's at one point. Of course, this was a Protector from the future, so that point in time might not have happened yet. Lukahn feared that with Bahamut being angry at the Protector for traveling back in time and the Protector being angry at the future Bahamut for not giving him a chance to prevent the war, his house might soon become a battleground.

"Those are some very strong words, Protector."

"This is a very dangerous time for me, as in _this_ me, being here. My past self is about to come here, and since we both know it hasn't happened ever before, it will be the first journey. Things have to remain the same. I fought off Marilith because that didn't happen the first time. I will continue to ensure history repeats itself to a certain point. After that, I don't care what happens."

"The Moment."

"Exactly."

Lukahn looked at both of them. He genuinely had no clue what the Moment was, and he was almost worried to say anything. He decided to go ahead and ask anyways. If this Moment was as important as they both made it out to be, this was a more delicate situation than just the Final War and the Magi. When he did, he was surprised at the answer he received from Bahamut.

"No one has ever been certain what it is or when it will be. There comes that point in life, that one small split-second decision, that either makes you brave or a coward. Makes you a hero or a nobody. Makes somebody remember you for the right reason…or for the wrong one."

"But the Protector makes the right decisions, correct?" Lukahn asked, as if to get clarification on what Bahamut was only hinting at.

"What he means…" started the Protector, "is that the Moment is the one decision that took me from being a small child from another world who got involved in Gaia completely by accident and only wanted to find a way home…to being someone who would stand up for what was right. The Moment will be upon us soon, and at that time, I will no longer be some random child…that younger me will become the Protector."

"And if that doesn't happen?"

"When I become the Protector, two things will happen. A wave of emotions will come over me for the first time and my powers will explode. I will not stop until I have saved those who need to be saved." The Protector walked past Lukahn and Bahamut, stopping just short of the door. "The second is the more important from my viewpoint. We can't start the search for the Magi until the Moment happens. After that, anything I change will have no effect on me. We can change time all we want, and this version of me standing before you will always be here."

"And if we change something beforehand?" Lukahn stated.

"Then he will be here, just not the version you see before us," Bahamut responded to Lukahn's inquiry. "He will change, to reflect how those events before the Moment changed the Protector from this time period. If he changes, all the knowledge he has will be lost. This version of him came back in time with specific information."

"So we are agreed, then? Our first task is to make certain that who I was becomes the Protector and experiences the Moment."

"Agreed. But you do realize we have to follow formalities."

"Of course. Because I didn't follow the rules in the future, you must now hold an inquiry…something I'm not looking forward to. Let's get this over with." The Protector walked out of the house and pushed off the ground without even a running start. Lukahn had seen him land the day before, but to see him take off was a more amazing sight. As quickly as the Protector had shown up in Lukahn's life, he had disappeared.

"Do not worry; you will be seeing him again. If the Protector says that Crescent Lake was not destroyed, then he probably knew because he had come here in the past." Bahamut spoke in a monotone voice. It sent a chill up Lukahn's spine that the Protector had an idea of where his life and the lives of those around him were going.

"What is this inquiry the Protector spoke of for?" Lukahn asked again, wanting to know what his new friend was about to face. This chain of events was becoming more confusing by the hour. "And what can I do from here?"

"Answering your second question first…keep an eye out for the Protector. At least, the younger one. You might not recognize him at first, but you need to be able to give him guidance. I will keep watch over Crescent Lake from where the Ancients live. I'm certain the elder Protector will try not to leave as much as he can for fear of upsetting events further. If something does go wrong, knowing his personality…" Bahamut looked at the ground where a wave in dirt had been left when the Protector took off into the sky. "If something does go wrong, he'll blast off straight for wherever the problem is happening and put a stop to it."

"We will try our best to keep tabs on Marilith, Bahamut," Lukahn shuddered as he spoke. "Sorry, it's not every day you speak the name of an Ancient while standing right next to them."

Bahamut shrugged. "It's not every day that you talk to the Protector, either. But as to your first question, the inquiry must take place because the Protector's actions by coming back here have endangered the timeline. Even if it is a timeline we haven't experienced because it's the future to us, it is one that he has experienced. We must hold some sort of hearing to discuss what has to be done. He'll present his information, and it is not meant to do anything but determine whether we act on his word or not. Either the Protector tells us what he can and we believe it, or…"

"Or you end up doing nothing and risk dooming Gaia to the same fate he came back trying to prevent."

Bahamut nodded, although he never took his eyes off the spot where the Protector had last stepped before taking off into the air. "If we don't believe him, things could get very difficult. We can't have him running around mucking about in past events, even though to us they haven't happened yet. And we can't just lock him up, because that's the wrong way to go about things and isn't fair to him."

"So, what are you going to do? You'd have to remove him from existence almost, and the only way to do that is…" The realization dawned on Lukahn. "When you said things would get difficult…did you mean you would have to…kill him?"

He turned to Bahamut just after finishing the question, expecting the answer to be that there was another possibility. Instead, the answer to his question came in a very disturbing way. With a level of uncertainty Lukahn hadn't seen in years, Bahamut slowly, and silently, disappeared in a shimmer of light. Lukahn was now left alone, just in time for the morning sun to finally start shining into the town square from over the mountains.

'_Was this one of the last days of Gaia?'_ He hoped his momentary thought was inaccurate. He hoped there would be many bright and sunny days ahead. He hoped that there would be no War, and that the Magi would be caught and charged for their crimes. Most of all, he worried about the Protector, both the elder version he had momentarily befriended…and a younger one whose journey had possibly not yet begun. Lukahn worried how he was going to recognize the younger Protector, but his thoughts continued to return to this "inquiry" and what it might mean for the Protector and Gaia.

"Protector…may Gaia guide you…because you're going to need it…I can feel it…"


	7. Future Uncertain

Flying against the slowly brightening sky, the Protector felt uneasy. His attempt to change the past and prevent either the initial event which culminated in the destruction of Gaia, or more importantly the War itself, was moving along without a problem. He knew how everything would start off. His first requirement was that the Sages believed him; if they did, it would be a lot easier to spread the word to the population of the world. His next step was to get the attention of Bahamut and the Ancient Society, which he figured would have been harder than it turned out to be. Marilith awakening early was his fault.

They were certainly going to be mad; they weren't ready for another Fiend to attack Gaia. To top that, he had time traveled. Even worse, the truth was now known that he travelled into the past in defiance of their wishes to go back home. Defiance was not something he was known for. That was certainly not how the people of Gaia were brought up to see the Protector; it was not how he wanted to see himself. War changes people, but the question that resided in his mind now was whether or not he truly realized to what extent he had been changed.

For the moment, he could put aside what had, or rather would, happen. The future could be changed. He had to ensure that the Ancient Society would go with him on this plan. If they could determine the whereabouts of the Magi at this point in time, they could stop them before things escalated. That would solve many problems in the coming years, and outright prevent the War from starting. However, the Protector was uncertain if they would be able to actually find the Magi; even with the more sophisticated technology of the future, they were unable to locate even one of them until the Magi wanted their location to be known. And usually, it was only to draw out the Protector…and in the worst way possible.

That was what made him angry. The Magi didn't care about the population of Gaia. They knew he was telepathic, that he could hear the voices of everyone on the Planet. They would destroy a city, killing everyone in it, simply because they knew it would wreak havoc on those voices. They would create a magical bomb which would blow a chunk out of the surface of Gaia, which would not only alter the flow of energy from the Crystals but also upset the Protector's powers. As his powers were tied to the Planet, these magical bombs usually left him in a catatonic state for a few days while he adjusted to the new feeling of the energy.

The worst thing they ever did was to create a path of destruction that headed straight for an orphanage. This memory, above all, haunted him. He wasn't fast enough. He tried to be a step ahead of them, but he wasn't fast enough. He tried. For the first time, he tried and failed. They even _waited_ for him to get there. The smell of the embers and the screams that echoed through the valley as he tried his best to save anyone were senses imprinted on his mind, never to be forgotten.

How he wished he could have saved but one life that day. Thirty-eight lives, but the Protector always counted thirty-nine. The one life that no one included on the list of names was one no one else understood. From that day on, he felt just as dead as they were. He couldn't be the same person he was. After all, this was partially his fault. What was more his fault, however, was what followed. Their action of destroying the orphanage set the Protector onto a path of destruction and hatred. No one had ever seen the lengths to which the Protector started going to in order to capture and destroy the Magi.

One by one, he began to hunt them down. For many years, they always stayed ahead of him. Slowly, over decades and centuries, he found himself catching up to them. At first, they were just playing with him, but the tables turned. They became frightened as they found themselves running for their own lives instead of just seeing how far they could mess with his. The fire in his eyes when he caught up with them told them everything they had done angered him more than they anticipated. For a few brief moments, they had genuine fear. He refused to murder anyone, good or evil. He didn't think he was capable of destroying them. He came close to proving himself wrong, and that was what made him uneasy.

Thankfully, those were not actions he would have to explain. There were other actions that he would have to answer to, other decisions that went against everything they expected of him. He always swore that he would never kill anybody; one faulted decision resulted in the planet of Gaia towards its destruction. It's true; had he been able to find a different way, he might have been able to avert it.

But with Gaia's destruction came a new possibility. It was no longer about whether or not the War would end, but whether it could be prevented in the first place. The explosion itself was what would allow the Protector to travel back in time this far. But the Protector's own nature caused his stomach to turn every time he thought about the price that was paid in order to travel to this point in time. Four billion people…gone. Even the thought that his presence could prevent the War and thereby prevent their deaths wasn't enough to get rid of the feeling. Perhaps, if he was lucky, succeeding would help to alleviate the pain. For the moment, he would have to endure it as the plan had to continue unabated.

As the Protector landed on the largest island in the chain a few hundred miles northwest of Crescent Lake, he knew what was about to happen and how dangerous it would be if he was unable to get them on their side. Turning the corner, he saw the Ancient Society, the precursor to the group he knew as the Celestial Order, standing at the entrance to the Underground Fortress. While they were waiting for him, it wasn't for the same reason as the crowds in Crescent Lake; to the Ancient Society, the presence of the Protector meant something horrible was going on. He truly hated wording it that way as it made it seem that it was his fault; in fact it was the other way around. Where evil crept, he appeared. He feared, of course, every evil that he came across; he usually stood as a roadblock to them destroying the world or taking it over, so each evil was a new brand of power. He could protect the world…and that was what he was good at. But, today was different. He feared himself. If he didn't choose his answers very carefully during this inquiry, they wouldn't believe him. And if _that_ occurred…then he would have doomed Gaia to a similar course of events.

It was no surprise to him that everybody he learned to count on in for the first few years of being the Protector was standing out of there. He knew them all by name. Ifreet Boreal, the Ancient of Fire, and his sister, Shiva Aurora Boreal, the Ancient of Ice. These two were easily the two most strikingly visible Ancients due to the effect their elemental affinity had on their skin tone. Ifreet's skin had turned bright fire red even though it wasn't hot to the touch; Shiva's skin was different shades of light blue, but unlike her brother, her skin temperature was always cold. Ramuh Volthund was one of the oldest of the Ancient Society, second only to Bahamut in age; his element was an offshoot of the wind element, focusing on Thunder and Electricity. As far as the wind element affinity, Chupa Nortil held the title of Ancient of Earth. Titana Turan was the Ancient of the Earth, and Levia Thanos was the Ancient of the Water. Then came the final two: Diablos had no other name, and embodied what some called a "secondary element", that of Gravity; and then there was Bahamut. Bahamut was the de facto leader of the Ancient Society. Even though the Protector could never truly remember a time where Bahamut had fought, even during the Final War, Bahamut was supposedly the Ancient of Light.

The Protector took a deep breath as he locked eyes, one by one, with everyone there. Everyone had a vague idea as to what was going on, and each was probably seeing it from a different viewpoint because of how they interacted with Gaia based on their affinities. The Protector, however, only needed to address one person here, and when he walked up to Bahamut, he stared at him the longest. His voice was monotone, showing that not only was this a very serious matter, but that he was not going to change neither his actions nor his intentions.

"I should have known you weren't actually in Crescent Lake. There's no way you could have managed to get back here before me. However, this probably means that you are ready to just get this started and over with. I'm certain we all understand how serious of a situation this is. Or rather, will be." The next few moments were filled with a silence that sent a mixture of a chill and a spark through everyone's bodies. They were frozen and didn't want to move even though they could feel the goose bumps growing. The Protector half expected Bahamut to speak; it was a surprising and refreshing change when Bahamut simply stepped to the side, motioning with his hand that the Protector could enter the Underground Fortress.

The Protector stepped forward past the Ancient Society, and grabbed hold of the large metallic door handle which would have been hidden to anyone of the normal Gaian population. He pulled it open, and felt a wave of hot air blast him in the face. They began walking; the Protector got a weird sensation that it was like he was walking to his death, with the Ancient Society as the wardens escorting him there. Nothing was said until twenty minutes later, when all nine of them were in the central room of the Underground Fortress. The central room was oval in shape, with seats for the eight members of the Ancient Society in a tiered seating arrangement. The eight members sat staring at the Protector, who stood in the exact center of the room, on a raised platform with a chair and a railing surrounding it. This room was supposed to be used for any trials which resulted from crimes. The Protector knew this wasn't going to be a trial, but that to everyone involved, it was going to seem like one.

Bahamut was the first to speak. "You do realize what the purpose of this inquiry is?"

The Protector nodded. "The purpose of this inquiry is simple for you, but for me it's my only hope." That statement seemed to focus the attention directly on the Protector. When Bahamut had told the others that the Protector had arrived due to time travel, their initial concern was what event the Protector was trying to prevent. That was the most likely reason to return to the past. But after the Protector took off to the skies, Bahamut returned to the Underground Fortress and disclosed that his presence here was not with their consent. That fact led to only two possible results, and neither was favorable to them. Either the Protector was hiding something from them and they were actually dead and unable to agree to any crazy plan or the Protector went against what they told him to do. They were willing to overlook him not returning home if it meant saving Gaia, but there was still the reasoning behind their decision to send him home; it was a vital piece of the picture that even he might not have.

"Your only hope for what?" Shiva stated. The Protector looked at her. Shiva was one of the most beautiful women in the Ancients. She was attuned to the element of Ice, and as such, had slowly gained a slight blue pigmentation to her skin. It had been gradual, so no one had thought anything of it. Her flowing hair was tied back in a style the Protector hadn't seen in a long time; despite having been pulled through a hair band, it flowed down to just above her ankles. There was a sparkle to her personality that had yet to be damaged by the War, and the Protector hoped his presence would prevent that from happening. She was the youngest of the Ancients, a statement that many enjoyed saying just because of how it sounded.

"We all know there's one reason that trumps all others. I am certain that Bahamut has already explained to you that I did not have had your permission to time travel. That's only the beginning. Let's start at the end and work our way backwards to a certain point." The Protector sat down, leaning back in the chair. He paused for a moment, trying to determine whether anyone was actually believing what was going on. This was a defining moment to the Ancient Society; this was the first time they were actually dealing with the Protector. In the coming years, they would find themselves involved in many different scenarios which involved time travel; but this first time, he had to be able to not only convince them this was happening but also that the circumstances which brought him back were worse than he had explained to the people of Crescent Lake.

A deep breath escaped his lips, his chest rising and falling slowly to match. "When I stepped through the Timeway and returned to the past, Gaia was mere moments from exploding."

Even Bahamut, who had been sitting and taking notes on everything happening, stopped moving. Unlike the others, he didn't look up. He just stared at the half-written page on the table in front of him. The Protector didn't want to start with such a surprising revelation, but the sheer shock that appeared on everyone's face was enough to tell him they were actively listening; even if they were listening before, he had to ensure that they were going to continue. If the Protector risked everything to come here to prevent the destruction of Gaia, then they would give him the benefit of the doubt just on the chance that he was telling the truth.

"I heard everything that you told the citizens of Crescent Lake," started Bahamut. "It is a hard story to believe, but what proof do you have that the Magi are returning?"

The Protector rolled his eyes. He snuffed out his nose, shaking his head in tandem. "Do you really expect me to answer such a ridiculous question?" He leaned back farther in the chair, turning to the side so as to put his legs on the railing. He sighed, rubbing his chin as he tried to determine what he should follow up with. "Everyone sitting in this room knows there are no definite ways to determine whether the Magi are around."

Bahamut placed his pencil down on the table. He sat up straight in his chair, looking straight at the Protector. "And if you are indeed the Protector, then you'll know what I'm about to say."

"Well, besides that I shouldn't be here yet, what you are going to say is that I have to have some sort of proof. Otherwise, there is no reason for you to believe me."

"Exactly."

"Well, you want proof? I'm about to create a massive alteration in the timeline by doing this, but since I'm here to prevent the War, and thus the contents of what I'm about to show you, I don't see any reason to hold back." The Protector put his legs back down, and stood up as he raised a hand. A slight glow appeared around it as the outlines of a book appeared, slowly filling in the finer details of a journal. The Protector kept his eyes trained on Bahamut to see the reaction. As Bahamut's eyes widened, it became clear to him what he was staring at. It was his journal. The Protector had traveled back in time with the one piece of evidence that would give Bahamut the proof he so desired. Bahamut's journal.

"This is the one thing you'll need to accurately judge whether or not I am telling the truth. I cannot get involved any more than this for the time being, but here it is." He stepped up and handed it to Titana, who turned around to hand it to Bahamut. Bahamut eyed it, knowing full well it was his journal. He set the journal down, and excused himself as the Protector returned to his seat.

"He'll be back. He's just checking on if his journal is still where he left it."

A few minutes passed before Bahamut returned. He sat back down, and leaned over to Ifreet. They whispered for a few seconds, but the Protector knew what was being said. Bahamut was questioning whether the journal that sat on the table had moved at all while he had been gone, and Ifreet was responding that it hadn't. The Protector kicked back in the chair again, replacing his legs on the railing.

"It hasn't moved, and you could easily open it up and see the final entry. They are all in your handwriting, and you could easily tell from that whether or not it was yours."

Bahamut straightened himself. He opened up the journal and read the final few entries. As he did so, the others in the Ancient Society saw his face go from awe to disbelief…and then finally to despair.

"So, it's true. There will be a War. But why this moment? Why this point in time?" Bahamut asked.

"From that point near the end of Gaia, we determined that the Magi had been manipulating events since before I first arrived here. The very first time. There was no way for us to ascertain what exactly they'd been doing, but we knew they had to be stopped as early as possible. This is about the time of my first journey, and therefore it was the best point by which to give you the foreknowledge this was going to happen."

"If that's true, then you should be able to quickly find them and get rid of them. Prevent anything from getting out of hand. You have had experience with them. You know what you are looking for."

"I can't. Like I said, I cannot get involved any more than this for the time being. Remember, this was about the time of my first journey."

It took a moment for the Ancient Society to understand what the Protector meant. Here he was, not only risking the world of Gaia, but also his entire existence. The Protector was, to some extent, outside of the reach of time. But to change his timeline before he became the Protector…no one knew what would happen if that were to occur. What sort of screwed up mechanics would affect the timeline? Bahamut understood that the very Protector in front of them might not continue to exist if precautions weren't taken to preserve the events as he remembered them.

"So, at what point can you start going after them?"

"I'm not certain. I have to stay back and out of the events that led up to my younger self's arrival and the first few days following. There's a point at which I become the Protector. That one point that everyone considers the 'Moment'." His gaze fell down to the floor, as he started to ramble. "Unfortunately, we never truly figured out what the Moment was, and until we do and pass it, anything I do or change will cause an upset to the timeline." He looked back at the Ancient Society as they remained glued to their chairs. "So, for the moment, I have to sit back and just watch events unfold."

"And what do you expect the rest of us to do? We can't sit back and just wait for your younger self to arrive while we have the Magi running around."

"You won't have to. Any moment now, you'll notice there's a massive overflow in the Crystalline Syntax. It's a backup in the system due to the declining strength of the Crystals."

Shiva shook her head. "You're wrong, there hasn't been any indication that there is a problem with the—" Her voice trailed off as she noticed a red flash from beyond the doorway. She stood up and walked over to the door. She pushed it open, and the blaring sounds of the alarm system entered the room. She looked back at the Protector, who only could manage a brief sigh.

"This is only the beginning."


	8. Problems of the Past

'_Oh, for some painkillers right now,' _the Protector thought, or at least tried to think. There was an overly loud combination of an annoying siren and blinking lights with a red-orange hue coming into the room from where Shiva had opened the door. Although shutting the door did dampen the sound and light from reaching into the room, there was no way for everyone to escape the realization that something horrible was going on outside. The Ancient Society, finding themselves trapped in the room, found the rules they had put in place a hindrance. Until some announcement was made as to the reason for the alarm, everyone except for security personnel were required to stay where they were.

"Perhaps," Bahamut started, "this is one of the few times that we might think about overriding that rule."

"You can't," said the Protector, although he knew he had no final say in the matter. "There's nothing you can do at the moment, no matter how much you'll want to believe I'm lying to you." He had been pacing while the light and alarm had permeated the room, but he had chosen to sit back down after Shiva closed the door.

This was one of the moments that he knew could not be changed; the same outcome had to occur. In a moment, the Crystals would completely shatter. The Fortress would lose power for a split second as they were forced to switch over to conventional generator power. For the past four hundred years, they watched as the Wind Crystal cracked. Two centuries later, the Great Calamity occurred when the Water Shrine was sunk to the bottom of the ocean; the Water Crystal cracked a few days later. The Earth Crystal cracked a few months earlier; the port city of Melmond became a ghost town as it became impossible to grow anything in the dirt. The final Crystal, that of fire, had just cracked a few minutes ago; this was causing a complete imbalance on Gaia. The world was heading for a long and drawn-out death.

"For now," the Protector continued, "you have to let events proceed as normal. The Light Warriors, those who Lukahn predicted will relight all the Crystals will do just that, but only if you let things happen naturally."

"If this was caused by the Magi, shouldn't you be out going after them?" Bahamut responded.

The Protector shook his head. "No…believe me; nothing would make me happier to get rid of them at this point in time. The problem is that they affected events during my first journey…and well, subsequent journeys."

"The same problem returns," Bahamut said, utterly frustrated with the man staring back at him. He was about to continue when the Protector raised his hand; he didn't know how to react to this man. They couldn't force him to take any action, even though the little information he had given them wasn't truly enough to go on. If he wasn't willing to help, why did he bother coming back in time?

"You can't help us at all because it might alter who you are, and yet we need you to help us," Shiva stated, a hint of fear in her voice. It wasn't a statement meant to acknowledge she was scared; rather, she was trying to use the facts to illicit some further response about what he truly expected them to do. However, the Protector knew very well that her fear had merit; if one Crystal was out of alignment, cataclysmic events would start happening. And now they were dealing with all four of the Crystals becoming imbalanced against the others. There was only one thing on everyone's mind: Gaia on that long, slow road to death. It was a planet, sure; but the Crystals gave it a sort of life that not many other planets had.

"Don't worry, this _will_ pass, and everything will be put right long before anything is beyond repair," came the Protector's reply. Had this version of him not been in the past, the next few days would going to be hard for everyone; they were going to be harder still because of his presence in the past. In the original timeline he had come from, in three Gaian days the Ancient Society would attempt a drastic procedure. It was what been determined was the catalyst which pulled him over from Terra.

_'Terra,'_ he thought_. 'It's so weird to refer to my home world in such a way. But can I really refer to it as my home world anymore? I haven't been there in so long…'_ He let his thoughts trail off, making certain to control how powerful they were, otherwise some of the telepathics in the room might overhear. It had been years since he last fully used his powers, even longer since he used them to try and hide information behind a mental cloak. He hoped the lines and scars on his face would be enough of a cloak; he wasn't ready to say everything he needed to say. But then again, was he hiding behind the fear that he was going to change the world…or that he was going to change himself along the way?

"This just seems like an awfully well timed coincidence," came a gruff voice, breaking the Protector's concentration. The Protector looked up at the speaker, knowing full well that it came from Ramuh, a being tied to the rather powerful element of Lightning. Ramuh was old, almost as old as Bahamut. There was always some debate as to which was the elder, but over the thousands of years they had lived, mostly due to the influence of the Crystal Energy flowing through Gaia, not many people could remember when either was actually born.

For someone attached to the element of Lightning, which generally was represented by a yellowish hue, Ramuh tended to ignore the usual trend of wearing some hint as to that affinity. He wore his long cream colored robe which extended all the way to the ground. The lone item he carried around with him was his staff, which doubled both as a walking cane and, as the Protector knew full well, could be used to effectively channel bolts of electricity. Out of all the Ancient Society, the Protector feared Ramuh's abilities more than the rest, even Bahamut. With a controlled burst of electricity, Ramuh could knock the Protector momentarily unconscious if he wanted to. Thankfully, for the time being, Ramuh didn't know he had that ability.

"Ramuh, a coincidence is when two things happen at the same time without any mean for them to. If you are referring to the fact that I arrive less than a week before events started happening…that was my goal. So, is it really a coincidence if I planned it?" the Protector responded. He kept his eyes on Ramuh, but he gave a little shrug as if to brush off the inevitable implication which was about to arise.

"Perhaps that was my point. For the time being, we have to assume that you are telling the truth, that you are indeed the Protector. Or at least, one version of him from the future." Ramuh reached up with his right hand and rubbed his bald temple. "But regardless of that, what proof can you have to prevent us from assuming that your presence here is causing these events to happen?"

"Really, Ramuh. You can't believe that my presence here, that my arrival less than a hundred hours ago started draining the Crystal Energy when the Wind Crystal started to die down four centuries ago?"

Ramuh sat back in his chair. Maybe the Protector was right. But if that were true, should it not have taken much longer for the Crystals to be drained of their energy? Something was not adding up here. As Ramuh thought about it, his mind kept drifting back to the fact that the Protector said he was here to stop the Magi. Perhaps they were the ones responsible for the sped up rate of decay; if it truly was the Magi who were involved, their supposed level of power would be enough to upset the balance even further.

"Then can you answer me one thing," Ramuh said, fully expecting to stump the Protector. "If you say the Magi are here, but are manipulating events, then would that not mean that there are already events in motion? Could we not stop those from happening?"

"You could, but shouldn't. There's a lot more to what's going on here than simply that the Crystals have become cracked. There's very little I can say, at least until my past self's arrival. At that point, I can better judge what I am able to say and at what time." The Protector looked at everyone that was in the room; all were looking directly at him. He knew they wanted something more concrete than just the continual avoidance of giving an answer. "Suffice it to say that the Temple of the Fiends is going to play a strong role in the events that are about to occur. There's a very…weird set of circumstances that have been put into motion, and for the time being you _must_ let them continue that way."

"The Temple of the Fiends? Isn't that where Chaos attempted to overthrow us two thousand years ago?" Shiva responded to the Protector's new information. There were a few moments of murmuring between the members of the Ancient Society. To them, Chaos had indeed almost changed the entire balance of Gaia. He had arrived from out of nowhere. There was no warning. For the next three hundred years, they fought random battles with Chaos, before finally he ran out of strength and was destroyed. Bahamut was the only one who wasn't saying anything, and that was partially because one of his questions was starting to get answered. He had always wondered how someone so powerful could "run out" of his abilities. Even the Protector, one who was not born of Gaia, eventually was attuned to the Crystals and the Planet to the point he was drawing any extra energy he needed to utilize his abilities. Chaos didn't seem capable of doing that; once he used that energy, it was gone for good. But if Chaos was playing a much bigger role in Gaian history than even Bahamut realized, there could indeed be a war brewing on the horizon. For now, they might be able to stand up against the Magi; if Chaos returned and wore them down again, even with a Protector from the far future on their side, the chances of them surviving seemed not even possible.

The Protector wanted to let everyone know that the events which happened two thousand years earlier which revolved around Chaos were partly due to his influence; he chose not to on the grounds that there was further time travel involved and it was already a very complicated matter. Chaos was the one regret he had in the entire time as the Protector; at least, it was the only regret he would admit to himself. Something had gone wrong when he went after Chaos, something that he wished he could change. He couldn't (or didn't want to) remember what; there was a point at which that was all he could think about. Now, his many years had taken a toll on his otherwise perfect memory; the one thing he wanted to remember he found he couldn't.

"The Temple of Fiends will play an important part in the upcoming events. Lukahn's prophecy regarding the Light Warriors will shortly come true; their first goal will be to head towards the Temple." For the first time since he had entered the room, he stood up and walked up to the Ancient Society. "This is the one thing I have to make certain that you do above every other action. You must make certain the Light Warriors head to the Temple."

"Why is that so important?" Bahamut inquired. "If they are destined to arrive there, then they'll make their way there eventually."

"This is more for my benefit than theirs."

"Your supposed earlier self, I take it?"

"Exactly. He has to be present when they arrive at the Temple of the Fiends. A series of events will take place there that will lead me to the Moment."

Shiva stared at the Protector, wondering whether he was ensuring the future or changing it. He claimed to want to alter the history of Gaia to prevent a War, but he still hadn't said how he wanted to accomplish that. Certainly, nobody wanted Gaia to be destroyed; however, Shiva's secondary concern was how far the Protector was willing to change time in order to achieve that goal. To her, that level of uncertainty was a scarier thought than the explosion of Gaia. At least they knew that would be coming and could plan for it if all other attempts to prevent it fell through. There was no telling what was going to happen with any changes they could potentially conceive. Even his current presence may have already prevented the future from happening in the same way. Shiva quickly realized she was unable to make a decision either way, so she resigned to keeping her worries to herself for the time being.

By this time, the sirens had stopped and the security personnel were releasing everybody to return to their normal activities room by room. They didn't realize that the Ancient Society was in session due to the Protector's presence (or even that the Protector was there in the first place), so it took a few minutes before they noticed that the room was currently in use. Bahamut had almost given up and was about to exit the room when a security team entered the room and pointed their weapons at the Protector.

"What on Gaia do you think that you are doing?" Bahamut asked.

"Sir, we noticed that you were being held here against your will by this crazy person," said the leader of the group.

Bahamut raised his left eyebrow in a manner that told the Protector that he was not faring well with how everything was progressing. The leader of the Ancient Society was having a visibly hard time dealing with everything; the Protector didn't expect to see this side of him for the next few thousand years on Gaia.

'_So much for changing the past for the better,' _he thought as he watched Bahamut.

Bahamut waved off the security team. He was not ready to deal with everything that was happening. As they moved to one corner of the room, they mumbled about how the "Protector", or at least someone purporting to be the Protector, was standing in the room talking with the Ancient Society. Whatever they continued to see happen from this point forward, it would be hard for them to forget it. Bahamut quickly warned them to try.

"To think, Bahamut, Lord of everyone down here, telling somebody not to talk about what was said here. That's all you seemed to do in the future. Force people to talk. It was a vastly different world, sure; I just don't ever remember a time when I saw you trying to keep something on the down-low," the Protector said. Everyone looked around at each other for a moment before the Protector realized what the confusion was. He was used to seeing these people thousands of years in the future, when they had become comfortable with Terran idioms.

"Nevermind. Just take it to mean that only those people who need to know end up knowing. Everybody in this room needs to know, and the Circle of Sages knows. I accidentally took a large risk because of having to show myself with the battle with Marilith, but that was probably a result of my arrival. I don't believe the citizens of Crescent Lake will cause any problems to the time line with the knowledge they have. In addition, they know I'm going to attempt to stop it. That should keep them from doing anything for the moment. If the Protector says he's going to stop something, then as far as I can recall the supposed legendary man…boy…person…comes through on his word."

The Protector moved forward towards the exit. He stopped at the doorway and turned back towards everyone. "Well, I think you all need to start looking at that Crystalline Syntax. It is going haywire, remember?" As they all realized he was right, they started a stampede to get out of the room. Only Bahamut and the Protector were left.

"You knew that was about to happen, didn't you?"

"Well, let's just put it this way, Bahamut. Did I know they were about to realize I was right and run out of the room? Yes. Do I know that Shiva is currently questioning my intentions? Yes. Do I know she's holding back from saying anything for the moment until she can make a decision on whether I can actually be trusted? Yes. There are only two things I don't know, and both are regarding what will happen in this new timeline. First, do I really know what sort of effect on the future I'm going to have by being here?"

"And the other thing you aren't certain of?"

The Protector sighed before leaning against the wall. "The second thing…is whether or not I've already messed up. It's whether or not I've already done enough damage to the time line that I may have negated my entire existence. And, to make matters worse…what will happen to this 'me'? The new me that hasn't yet arrived."

"So, this…version of you that we are getting closed to meeting…"

"If you want the story, I'd suggest we go to a much more…relaxed environment. This place is very intimidating for a storytelling session." The Protector held a hand out for Bahamut to walk with him. The room returned to a quiet state as they left, Bahamut putting a seal on the door as his journal from the future still sat on the desk. Both of them took a last look at it, locking eyes as they turned away. They walked away as the Protector began to tell a story. "While many things in my past may have led me to the moment I was brought to Gaia…the true story starts about a week before that fateful day…the night I had a very strange dream…"


	9. When Dreams May Come

A whole universe away from Gaia, one specific child found himself tossing and turning in his bed on Earth. Over the first eleven years of his life, he became used to his bed; to him, sleep was the most relaxing part of the day. He could pretend he was somewhere else, different each time but with certain elements that were the same. Being an introvert at the core of his personality, he already dreamt that he had some extra ability that set him off from the rest of the world. That instead of his differences being a burden, they were suddenly the reason everybody wanted to have him around.

In his dreams he got his wish, though he never could see a dream through to the end. Every night for the past few days, he awoke from his dreams at the same pivotal point in the story as usual. He felt like he would be forced to live through the same dream for the foreseeable future. It was a world filled with magic and mystery, which by itself would have been something interesting to explore. However, the adventure he was seeing was like a silent film; it was like a vision, but no sound. Every night, Karrin Cesend was forced to experience this adventure, although he worried that he was doomed to never complete it.

Karrin always wished for some strength. Especially as a young boy with a name like Karrin. He was always dealing with people who made fun of him for having a name that sounded like a girl's name, even though it was spelled in a much different way. He shied away from confrontation when he was given the chance. He was seen as someone people could walk over, and for the time being, Karrin was alright with that. It gave him an easy way to work through life, even if it did mean driving his best friend crazy as she watched him dig a rather deep emotional hole that he didn't know was there. Which, when coupled with the fact that he didn't think highly of himself, could spell trouble in the future.

Having the same dream over and over didn't help how well he thought of himself. He felt trapped, almost similar to the feeling he had during school when the teachers were in control...or the feeling he had on the playground where the other kids his own age would always ignore what he said or what he wanted to play. That's what it was deep down: the fear of being trapped because he wasn't in control.

To Karrin, the dream was that real. If it had been a book, he would have assumed it was a bestseller. Unfortunately, he never really felt he could tell anybody about it, because he could only remember portions of what was going on, even though the vivid images stayed with him through the day. His walls were, much to his parents chagrin, adorned with pictures of different objects in his dream; he drew them to keep a reminder of all of the things he saw. Any one small item could be the key to understanding what was going on. To him, the only picture that stood out was the one that he kept stuck to his ceiling above his bed: a picture of four crystals growing out of a world. The crystals almost shimmered the way he had drawn them, each one basking in one of the colors of ruby, sapphire, amber, and jade.

It's not to say that he didn't enjoy any part of the dreams. He enjoyed how things always started, but the ending was what he would call a nightmare. He didn't like how it played out, so he tried his hardest to retain some control over the ending. Whether he actually managed to control them himself or there was some grand plan for him to see different endings, the final chain of events usually did play out differently. To a point. The same ending moment always woke him up: a sword being brought down over his head. Or rather, whoever he actually was at that moment. Faces were blurry, but while he was a character in the dream, he was seeing that sword through someone else's eyes. As if flinching to prepare himself for the inevitable cut of the blade, Karrin would close his eyes, only to open them in his bedroom again.

Being unable to sleep was starting to take a mental toll on Karrin. He could feel the itch under his skin; he was becoming tense. He found himself unable to focus or function as clearly as he would have liked. What kept him up was not the dream itself but the inability to see how it all ended. There was something nagging in the back of his head at what was holding him back from reaching the end of the dream. He had read that usually a roadblock would be caused by something holding him back, perhaps the realization of why that single sword strike at the end would be so important to the story.

His other friends tried to tell him that many dreams are just reflections of what occurred earlier in the day. Karrin usually just agreed with them. He didn't truly believe what they were saying; he just wanted to get out of the conversation. If only it were as simple as what they believed, but he knew, deep down inside, that they didn't understand how real this dream felt. In the end, Karrin would either let the conversation die out or find the easiest way to change the topic of discussion. There was no way to accurately describe the dream; his friends would have to experience it for themselves. Karrin accepted this fact and resigned himself to be the only one to question his dreams. Many of his friends hoped that Karrin would just ignore the dreams and stop worrying.

Karrin's best friend was the one friend who wanted to hear what _Karrin_ was thinking and feeling, and not trying to make her thoughts be the reason for the conversation. He regarded this friend as being closer than the word "best" could ever describe; he figured he would end up never admitting that to her since it might come off as having feelings. He knew that wouldn't be a bad thing if she found out, since it was true; he just didn't want his dreams to be the reason she found out. He genuinely cared for Analyn more than as a friend. However, he figured that with her just about to turn twelve in a few days, they were too young to be discussing things of that nature, even if she did seem to like him back.

"You know something, Karrin?" she had asked on the way home earlier that day. Karrin remembered the scene with great detail, just as he always did...especially when it involved Analyn. She stopped walking, mid-thought, to move her long brown hair out of her face. It was visible how much she hated getting in her mouth when she talked. Karrin, from the outside looking in, thoroughly enjoyed watching her hair move about. He liked long dark hair...he liked _her_ long dark hair.

"No, what, Ana?" he replied, calling her by the nickname she apparently reserved only for him, or so he'd been told. The way he seemed to respond gave Analyn a cause for concern. They were stopped just short of the end of the sidewalk where they would have to cross the street, and Analyn took the opportunity to look into Karrin's eyes for a moment. She tried to find her way into the Karrin she knew was being plagued by these dreams. Of course, she had heard the entire story from Karrin while everyone else had just a vague idea of what he was dreaming. Analyn knew how Karrin managed to get through the day: the version that he portrayed at school was a facade designed to hide the pain and confusion he was feeling as he interacted in society.

"There's something different about you lately. I just can't figure out what it is," she muttered as they crossed the street. They continued walking in silence until they reached the crosswalk where they would part ways. Karrin would continue down one side of the road while Analyn would head back a few blocks. He always questioned, in the back of his mind, why she would continue walking the extra distance; he let his mind assume that it was because they were the best of friends and tried hard to push the thought that it might have been because she liked him back out of his head.

"Something...different?" he stammered. His mind raced as to why she would ask such a question. Did he give off some indication that he liked her? How would he explain that to her? Then again...how would he explain it to himself? Karrin decided to end the discussion at his rather rhetorical question, hoping she would do the same.

"Yeah," she started, defying Karrin's hopes of an end to the conversation. "You seem like you never want to talk about what's really going on. We used to talk all the time about where we wanted to go in life, and what we wanted to see and do. I liked talking with you, not to you. In fact, I still do like doing those things. You know, it's not as much fun if you don't talk back."

"Yeah...I've just..." He tried to put a sentence together to describe his confusion regarding the dreams, but nothing came to mind. "I don't know why..." he finally said.

Analyn looked at him and saw the look of dejection and defeat on his face, even though he was staring at the ground. She couldn't, and didn't want, to imagine what might be going through his thoughts at that point. "On second thought," she started, "try not to worry about it. I think you have enough on your mind."

It was a moment that Karrin would remember for the rest of his life. For that one brief second, he felt as if she was the only one who truly understood what he was going through. When they parted ways, the look in her eye almost told him that everything was going to be alright. He desperately wished he could have believed that statement was true.

Whether or not it was true, Karrin, as he lay in bed that evening after waking up yet again, wanted to have that feeling Analyn had given him. Everything would be fine...except, he knew that it wasn't. Not even close to fine. In the next few hours, he would have to wake up and face school. Facing those friends who didn't seem to care while trying to hide his feelings from the girl he liked.

As he stared at the ceiling from beneath the warm comforter, Karrin wasn't certain if it was the lack of sleep that prevented him from doing so, but he was having a hard time deciding which of the three things he would have to face in the morning that scared him the most. As he thought, he finally came to the conclusion. It wasn't any of the three that was scaring him; he could have put off being scared until the morning in that case. He was scared right now, and that meant only one thing was scaring him. He turned and looked back at his pillow, clearing his throat as he did so. The thing that really scared Karrin...was sleep.

* * *

Karrin could never remember his dreams being this vivid before. He had fallen asleep after tossing and turning in his bed over a two hour period. Even though the brisk spring air was starting to give way to the arid summer heat of the Midwest, his sheets were still cool as they brushed against his skin. He knew that wasn't what kept him from falling asleep as fast as he should have; he was worried about the type of dreams he would have while asleep. He had reason to worry, as the dreams went from hazy partial visions of events out of his control to what he almost might have described as a fully interactive first person movie.

This wasn't the type of dream he was used to having. There was so much more to it than before. And this gave Karrin the justification that his overactive sense of worry needed for it to go into overdrive. He wished he could find the right words to describe what he was seeing; Analyn always told him to start from the beginning and tell her everything. She always listened intently, as if looking for the reason the dreams existed in the first place. Karrin figured he might want to start looking for the reason himself; otherwise, he worried, he might end up doing some sort of damage to the wonderful relationship he and Analyn enjoyed.

For the time being, however, he was happy to have someone who was willing to listen when he needed her to, even if she was too enthusiastic at times. So, he needed to gather as much information as possible. This was silly to him, though; he was taking mental notes during a dream! How weird would that sound to Analyn in the morning when he told her!

Looking around, the first thing that stuck out to him was that there was a heavy shade of green to the entire surrounding him. Was there something causing it? Karrin turned around, trying to locate a source for what he could only assume was light. His first impression of the dream was already starting to be that of mild disappointment; he quickly found a different reason to be excited in that if there was no source of light, something very strange was going on. There was almost something magical to the entire dream. The green was soothing, as if calling out to Karrin, beckoning for him to follow it. Not knowing where he would have followed it to kept Karrin from moving his feet in _any_ direction, preferring instead of stay put in the false safety of not moving. His belief was that if something bad was going to end up happening to him in this dream like how most of his dreams ended that he was going to make it come to him.

_"You have nothing to fear,"_ a voice echoed in his mind. Karrin didn't know where it came from. His first inclination was that he was just making things up; unfortunately, the voice repeated itself, this time clearer and with a rather feminine feel to it, even though it was just in his mind. As the voice 'spoke' to Karrin, he felt as if that strange green light pulsed with it. It was a possibility that they were related, but the rhythm of the light as it grew and died down in its intensity didn't match the rhythm of the words.

There was something else about this dream that managed to send Karrin's nerves almost over the edge: he was alone, in a way. If he counted the light as something magical and beyond explanation, then he could safely say there was no movement whatsoever. While he could accept the fact that he was the only living, breathing life in the dream, he knew there was something else there with him. It was the only thing that made any sense; after all, he _did_ hear a voice.

"_Why do you fear the unknown? That is not like you,"_ the voice began again, questioning the thoughts going through his mind. It was very evident that whatever, or whoever, was talking to Karrin was able to read his mind. Karrin wasn't too happy with this realization, because he felt he would have to be very careful not only about what he said, but also with what he was thinking.

"Do you know me?" Karrin asked, worried about the answer that may come. He wasn't certain if any answer was going to relax him. If the answer was a yes, he would want to know who owned the voice. Hearing a "no" was going to concern Karrin about how this voice knew fearing the unknown was not like him, even if it was correct.

"_I know you better at now than you will know yourself in the years to come. You might say that you will lose bits of yourself as you slowly gain new ones as replacements."_

"But I don't want to change. Why would I?" Karrin responded, a question with a slight edge that meant it was to be taken rhetorically. After what was just said, he didn't want to know anything else. The thought of losing a part of himself scared Karrin. He was a normal eleven year old (for the most part); he felt that he should stay that way and be allowed to decide who he wanted to be. Yet, from what he was hearing, that was going to change for him.

The real question was: _Why him?_ Why did _he_ have to be the one to change? What was so special about him? Karrin spent quite a large amount of time trying to avoid being seen as any form of the word "special". He wanted to make his own decisions, but here he was being told that for some reason he was different and that difference was going to change who he was as a person.

"_Only you will be able to find your own reason for choosing that path. It is who you are that destines you to change."_

Karrin didn't want to be in this dream anymore, though he was uncertain of how to wake himself up. It was almost as if he didn't have to do anything other than think about ending the dream as he immediately found himself sitting up in bed. The locale and voice were gone, replaced by the partial darkness offered by the curtains blocking the thin streaks of light shining through his windows. Karrin wondered whether he, in the end, managed to get any sleep or if his mind and body were lying to him. Certainly, he felt rested; lying back on the bed, he tried to enjoy his lack of physical exhaustion for once.

Instead, he found himself questioning all the things he just heard. On any other day, he would have ignored the dream as something random. To Karrin, some dreams had meaning, but fantastical ones such as what he just experienced were hard to figure out. What sort of dream was this? It didn't fall under the usual classification of either a nightmare or not. It was somewhere in between. Nobody was being hurt, but Karrin felt that in a way his resolve was being tested. If this happened while he was awake, he would have believed that he was undergoing some sort of evaluation to see what sort of response he would give.

Karrin let a large sigh escape from his lips. Even though he felt rested, his eyes felt heavy, as if they were full of some amalgamation of every emotion he experienced in life. It was at that moment Karrin deeply wished he could find a way to prevent himself from having any dreams at all, good or bad. He was content to endure them, if only to determine their purpose (not to mention the fact that it was impossible to completely prevent them from ever happening). He tried to remember anything that might have given him an idea of where _this_ dream had come from, but he found it was too late. The small details that might have afforded him some solace were slipping away and there was no way to retain them.

Was it just some strange representation of what he was feeling that moment? What if it wasn't? What if there was indeed a reason for having these dreams, especially if that one dream carried some sort of truth to it?

Karrin found he couldn't think about it for long before his alarm sounded. He rolled his head back along the pillow and muttered an exasperated groan. He let the alarm buzz as it slowly increased in its volume, filling the room as it bounced off the walls. After a half a minute passed, the buzzing had turned into something unbearable.

"Alright, already!" he found himself angrily exclaiming as he slammed his hand on the snooze button. All he wanted was five more minutes of sleep or silence to help clear his mind. He knew it was a risk to lie on his back again; he _needed_ to get up for school yet he _wanted_ to stay in bed all day. If he had any inkling that he wasn't feeling well, he would have tried to play the sick card. Deep down, he knew he wasn't sick in even the smallest way; his personality prevented him from lying just to get out of doing something, even if it was school that he was thinking about avoiding.

He gave up and shut his alarm completely off before it had a chance to sound again. While the alarm managed to drive Karrin insane on any other day, today, he was happy that it was as annoying as usual. It afforded him a split second of ease from the irrational dream he just experienced. This dream made him so uneasy that he knew he would have to find a way to keep from telling Analyn about it. He knew how much he worried her with the things that continually seemed to happen in his life…as well as the way he seemed to respond to them. He tried, desperately, to push the thought out of his head of how he would be able to hide it from her.

By the time the doorbell rang twenty minutes later, Karrin had, for the moment, done just that. His mind was no longer focused on the dream, allowing him to enjoy a rather pleasurable breakfast. To him, keeping the dream a secret and hidden away from the rest of the world that might damn him for being himself was enough of a reason to finally relax. However, the ringing of the doorbell echoed throughout Karrin's head, making him feel like his head was finally empty of concern if a few bell tones were able to bounce around inside without any issue. Even though he hated to admit it, though, he knew that was not the case. He knew that the doorbell was only signaling his defeat in the matter, not his success.

"Karrin!" Analyn's voice resounded down the hallway as if to mock Karrin's belief that the doorbell ringing through his head was anything more than just that. "You up and fully awake yet?"

"For the most part, Ana," Karrin replied, instantly fearing that not only would she be able to tell that he was not in the best of moods today but that she would try to figure out why. Karrin hated how easily she could pull bits of information from him without him realizing it. He didn't want a repeat of so many times before.

"Okay…what's wrong?" she said as she sat down across from him.

For a brief moment, Karrin considered scowling at her for being exactly who she was and being so predictable. He decided against it, knowing he wouldn't want her to change her ways just to shake things up. He decided to just be straight with her; she'd find out anyways whether he wanted to tell her or not. After telling her everything he remembered from the dream, he attempted to look into her eyes without showing any hint of concern. Analyn, however, wasn't fooled; she knew he was worried, much more than usual.

"Karrin, to be honest, I don't know what to tell you," Analyn said, pausing every few words to sigh. Karrin could tell that she not only didn't know what to say, but she had no clue how to react. It was a weird dream without all the hints of the future, but they were both just children still. Who knows what the future truly holds for them? Karrin tried to shrug it off, but Analyn shook her head. "Don't avoid this, Karrin. This is something that you need to figure out; your own actions are saying you need to. You're worried and you don't know why. It makes no sense for you to just avoid it."

Karrin, surprised by Analyn's response, had no idea what to do. "Ana, why does this one dream concern you so much? I mean, I understand that you are worried because I'm worried over it. But this isn't the first dream that I've ever been worried about. Until now, you've sorta just let me worry but keep me moving forward. Why is this dream so interesting to you?"

"I wouldn't say interesting." She thought about it for a moment. "Okay, well, maybe in a small way it is interesting…But I'm worried about it as well. And not just for your sake, for mine as well." Analyn knew that would confuse Karrin, so she didn't pause for too long before continuing. "You see…I've had a dream off and on for the past few weeks. Not every day, just every so often. I keep feeling like…something is going to happen. And you're going to go away…then you return and I feel like barely a moment has passed but you are somehow different."

Karrin didn't know what to make of Analyn's revelation, especially when he noticed she wasn't looking at him anymore, preferring to look at the edge of the table instead. Her head was slightly turned down, purposely avoiding eye contact. Karrin knew this look; over the past few years, he had given the same stance when he didn't want to explain something to her. It always seemed like she was not going to just let him get away with not explaining how he was feeling; he wanted to do the same thing for her. She needed to talk about what she was worried about just as much as he did. Perhaps the answer to his dream was in hers, and vice-versa.

"Why would you be worried about that? You know I'm not leaving on any trips until the summer, and that's a few months away."

"I know," she started, very sheepishly replying. "I don't know what to tell you…It just feels like whatever this was going to be…whatever is going to take you away…it's not going to be normal. Something completely different that we've never experienced before. And when you told me about your dream and what that voice said to you…it worries me."

Karrin knew what she meant. It worried him, too. The dreams were similar to each other, in a way, they were dreaming about the same thing, but from their respective vantage points. Was some change on the horizon for both of them? Some series of events that would take Karrin away, if only for a moment, and return him as a different person? Karrin didn't like the thought of that, especially when he saw how hard Analyn was trying to hide how upset she was.

"Karrin," she muttered, causing him to look up. "I don't want you to ever go away." She hazarded a look into his eyes, confirming to him that what she was saying was the truth. It chilled Karrin to the bone; Analyn was usually never like this. While from time to time she would show momentary lack of control of her emotions or feelings just as anyone would, she was usually a very strong person. Karrin knew whatever was going on in their dreams, there was very little chance of it resolving itself over the next few days.

He took her hand; even though he didn't want to, he smiled, hoping she would as well. "Don't worry," he replied. "I'm not going anywhere."


	10. Frames

"We're doomed! The Gods have chosen us unworthy and we shall surely lose our Prince and fall into ruin!" The Chancellor of the Kingdom of Elfheim was on his kness, his face buried in his lap. He was sobbing uncontrollably, repeating his remarks endlessly. His ceremonial robes dampened as his tears permeated the fabric, subduing the once bright red.

"Get off your knees, old man," came a deep voice from the other end of the hallway. "Praying to your Gods when you claim they have marked you as unworthy is nothing more than procrastination." Heavy scraping sounds could be heard as a suit of armor scuffed the marble floor. When the Chancellor looked up through sobbing eyes, he saw the guise of the Prophet, Lukahn, from underneath the cloak covering him.

"I am sorry that I feel the need to express my emotions in such a manner as wailing, but I do not have to answer to the likes of a Crescentian. You people out at Crescent Lake think you are so much better than we are just because you have your almighty Circle of Sages, but that doesn't give you the right to pass judgment." When a momentary chuckle erupted from Lukahn, the Chancellor replied in a very angry tone. "I was _not_ being funny." The portion of the Lukahn's cloak around his head moved slightly, giving the Chancellor cause to wonder what motion had occurred to generate such a shift in the fabric. The Chancellor had to concede that whatever Lukahn's reasoning was, he was right; the real battle here was not with the Gods that had supposedly forsaken them, but the realization that some dark force was at work.

"You called me out here from Crescent Lake for a reason, Chancellor," Lukahn responded. "I'm pretty certain that for all the animosity that occurred in previous centuries between Elfheim and Crescent Lake, your request was not to simply start a verbal war in a face-to-face situation."

The Chancellor rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Once again, Lukahn was correct. His motives for calling the Prophet out here was a means of getting more information on who could have started Elfheim on the road to ruin. He hoped there was some level of pity that a Crescentian could have on him after how the Elfheimers previously treated him; he had, after all, warned the entire kingdom that this was going to happen almost a year in advance.

"We need help," came the reply from the Chancellor, his voice cracking through the tears and worry. "Desperately."

* * *

In the depths of a well-hidden cave far to the north of Elfheim, an old but lively woman sat, rubbing her forehead. She was sensing something different in the pattern of time that was concerning her; at first, she believed it was due to the imbalance being generated between the Crystals, but she questioned that thought as she felt an unfamiliar presence attempting to hold them together. Without her Crystal Ball, stolen sometime the previous week, she couldn't ascertain exactly what it was that temporarily held everything in a semi-balanced state. Her focus was being shifted as she attempted to gain more information.

For a moment, she felt as if she recognized the extraneous element. She experienced this exact same sensation before, but couldn't quite place where or when. She tried to determine what the earliest memory she could recall was, but having lived a few millennia was starting to take its toll on her cognitive abilities. Placing two fingers on her forehead, she sent a small jolt through her head by tapping it once with a small amount of force. She hoped that it would have given her more clarity and insight; however, she was afforded neither of these as her mind continued to deteriorate.

Suddenly, although she was still standing, she felt as if a torrential downpour of wind had swept her off her feet. Her mind was still clouded, but for a moment she was able to get a clear picture of who was balancing the flow of the Crystals. Although her shock continued, as she realized who it was she was seeing in the forefront of her mind, the reason she remained in shock shifted from the brief moment of clarity taking her by surprise to the understanding of what truly was happening on Gaia.

"Protector…" she muttered as she stared off into the void of the room around her. This was Gaia's darkest time; the Moment was upon them.

* * *

The Head Royal Knight, Faure (as his name was so portrayed through the writing of clerks), felt there was something missing from his life. For many years, he couldn't determine what it was, no matter how hard he tried to figure it out. It wasn't until the disappearance of Sara, Elder Princess of Cornelia, that he realized what it was. Her presence was what made endless days of patrolling the castle grounds palatable. With her not being around anymore, he had a set of new tasks laid out before him.

Certainly, his first task was to ensure the safe and expedient return to Cornelia of Princess Sara. There was more to it than a simply rescue mission; when he entered the service to Cornelia a decade earlier, Faure set out to prove that he was capable of service above and beyond that required of any soldier. Even after the basic training regime where he had to prove he could fight alongside the best of the current soldiers and survive the deepest and disturbing interrogations, Faure wasn't prepared to have the honor of graduating the same day as Princess Sara's Entitlement Ceremony.

'_Such a grand occasion!'_ Faure remembered the day well. The King bestowed the beauty of his daughter and the newest regiment of knights to the people. These two events would have made any day special, but there was something more. It was a moment he had on his mind since before the ceremony was even discussed. It was no secret that the Princess had spent many days discussing the future with Faure: the future of their Kingdom, their lives, and their hopes and dreams.

Instead of the King knighting each squire, he chose to have Princess Sara select the first to be knighted. Perhaps she had it planned, but Faure believed in fate; it must have been that fate that it was he who she chose. One look into her eyes as she beckoned him forward caused the realization that he was ready to protect his family and Kingdom, but mostly her.

"You summoned me, your highness?" Faure said in a tone worthy of his knighthood. Today was a day that the Kingdom needed his skills of protection. The Princess was gone and it was time to send out rescue parties. Faure stood straight, a hard feat to accomplish in the silver chain-link armor he wore. His sword, sheathed in its golden scabbard, remained against his waist as he held the hilt firmly. It only took a moment before the King dismissed the remaining guards.

"We talk alone," the King stated as they disappeared behind the dark oak doors. He stood up from his throne and proceeded down the steps until he came to rest in front of Faure. "You have served me and this Kingdom long and well, have you not?" It was customary for the King to ask such a question when a matter of great importance was at hand; the thought was not lost on Faure. However, it was even more poignant of a question since the previous Head Royal Knight, Garland, had abandoned his post in the middle of the night and disappeared. Whether the question was meant to be rhetorical or as a test of humility, Faure was never given the opportunity to respond as the King headed towards the courtyards.

"Come, walk with me."

The King and Faure walked along the courtyards, a location that Faure knew very well as he previously spent many days as the sun went down either practicing his swordsmanship or talking about the future with Sara. The difference now was that, with the Kingdom on high alert, the entire castle seemingly darkened as an influx of chain-link armor stood against every wall. The courtyard was still covered in the green, albeit with a few more vines here and there, but now there was a disturbing mix of silver hidden beneath it. Faure couldn't blame the order; it was a natural assumption that the King was next to be abducted; this would only leave Queen Jayne and the younger Princess Aria to rule, neither of which had experience in running a Kingdom. The citizenry and lifestyle would be thrown into chaos, despite everyone's best efforts. While the King knew this, a momentary nod to Faure let him know to order his men to stand down and leave them alone. Still concerned, Faure left his hand on his hilt in case a battle ensued.

"It is alright, Faure. It is not me they are after." The King sat down on a small bench that had been built many years ago. It showed its age as much as the King was currently; both had a long history supporting the Kingdom. Faure wondered which one would likely fall apart first, as the world was becoming a dangerous place and tensions could quickly escalated beyond the point the King could mediate. For the moment, Faure let the King relax; his demeanor almost demanded a break in all the frustration and negative excitement occurring. "They were after the Lute."

Faure knew very well what this meant. Noah's Lute was a relic, thousands of years old; legend spoke of the Lute being able to have a calming effect on a person's dreaming. The King had been thinking about traveling to Elfheim to have Sara play the Lute for the Prince in the hopes that he might awaken. Sara was only kidnapped because whoever it is needed someone who could play and control its power.

"Faure, loyal knight of Cornelia," the King murmured. Faure heard the voice, not of a King, but of the father he had pledged his life to protect. Of course, this was the King of Cornelia, but for a moment, Faure had forgotten that he was also a father. "My daughter is my life. Send out search parties and do whatever you can to find where Sara was taken…then bring her back."

Snapping to attention, Faure bowed his head. His metal clanking together resounded through the courtyard. "I will do as you ask," he said.

"Why do you choose to go into the military?"

Faure was taken aback. This was not something that should be asked of him. Had he not done his duty to the best of his abilities, and sometimes beyond what was expected of him? Had everything he accomplished been for nothing, with the capture of Sara and the Lute to be the worst possible crime and wipe away all the good? Was this question a precursor to the end of his career? Faure didn't know and chose not to express his thoughts; he kept everything locked away in the recesses of his mind so as not to alarm the King. There was only one answer. "To protect my country and honor my family, my liege."

"You have done so," the King responded. "Now ensure Sara returns unharmed."

The King of Cornelia watched as Faure marched off, gathering troops as he went. There was one vital piece of information that Faure wasn't privy to: who was to blame for abducting the Princess in the middle of the night, who was to blame for the disappearance of the Lute, and who could very easily become the most powerful entity: the previous Head Knight. Garland.


	11. Special Day

Karrin felt very bizarre; he was not used to having to use his almost non-existent people skills in any sort of social setting. He never truly believed that he was what someone might consider a people-person; he loathed social gatherings and one of the ones he hated he was now attending. Today was different, though; he was managing to show, with a large amount of difficulty and effort, a courage he figured he must have, choosing to put aside his worries since it was for Analyn. Her birthday party was always a meaningful day to her; as she was his closest friend, Karrin felt that if there was one person he could momentarily change for, it would be her.

Karrin could not have anticipated the surprise on Analyn's face when she saw him appear as if from nowhere. While it was certainly true that she had been caught up in the festivities for the previous hour, when Karrin appeared her fake smile gave way to a genuine one. For both of them, they believed that the party was just beginning; this was a pleasant feeling for both of them as they didn't spend as much time together as they hoped they would. She ran over to him, eager to not only have him present and at her side, but also just to have someone to talk to who wouldn't be going through the motions just because they were expected to. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to arrive!" she happily exclaimed.

"Glad I could help out?" Karrin found himself saying as she pulled him to one side of the yard, not certain whether he was making a statement or asking a question. She had caught him off guard, sure; but the simple act of her grabbing hold of his arm and almost dragging him over to the swing by the front gate left Karrin confused. This was meant to be a happy day for her, and she was only focused on his presence instead of all of the people surrounding her. He didn't mind sitting down next to her on the swing while everyone else was gathering around the table with food; actually, he knew her too well and would have expected her to ditch the main party with any excuse she could possibly think of. What concerned him was why she sounded as if the party had been a failure until he arrived.

"It's been a horrible day. I've hated it since the first person arrived," she said, almost as if in response to Karrin's thoughts. "I've had no one to talk to. I don't know any of these people and I just don't know what to think. I hate not having any relatives that are my age other than my brother." She was evidently frustrated; Karrin didn't know what he could do or say that would help her feel relaxed. She played with her hands, unmistakably nervous. "They don't really want to be here; it's like showing up to celebrate my birthday was a chore for them and all they wanted was some free cake."

"At least you know that everyone will go home portlier than when they arrived," Karrin replied. He knew it was a horrible joke the moment that he finished saying it, but Analyn laugh at the joke anyways. He could tell that she wanted to laugh, but he knew deep down she needed to laugh. Karrin could tell it; knowing so much about each other since Karrin's family moved into town just over five years earlier gave them a unique insight into each other's character. They'd met on the playground during kindergarten, and they instantly became best friends. Even at the nastiest moments in the past five years they were always able to anticipate what the other needed, whether it be something they needed to hear or there was something they could do for each other. It wasn't a talent they gained from long talks they had, though it certainly helped out; to them, anything they did regarding the other was natural.

They sat in silence for a few moments, letting the party proceed at its own pace. Karrin watched the party while Analyn just sat there wondering why his focus was away from her. As she followed his gaze, she was surprised that he wasn't following people as he was prone to do; rather, he was scrutinizing the other gifts that people purchased. In his opinion, anybody could go out and spend hundreds of dollars on something that she would enjoy for a few days and then place those trinkets in big lavish boxes; they could be something she would look back and have fond memories of, but he still considered them empty sentiments compared to what they could have created themselves. He only hoped his present would be worthy to stand with the rest of them in her memory.

He turned back, noticing her staring at him; bashfully turning away, he pulled the small box out of his pocket. He didn't know how she was going to react to this; knowing he would be heartbroken if she didn't like it, he was hesitant to hand over the box for her to open. "It's not something that I purchased. I did have to put a lot of thought and effort into it." When he smiled and tried to sound cheerful, it was a genuine attempt; nevertheless, he held back because he wasn't certain how she would react to it being homemade. "I had to beg my parents to drive me around to put this together; there were a lot of little piece to find and add on."

Without a warning, Analyn grabbed the small box out of Karrin's hands; he tried to grab it back, but she stopped him. "Karrin, I'm certain I'll like whatever you thougt up. And if it's worth that much trouble for you to beg your parents and to show up to a birthday party when I know you hate them, then I want to open it now. I want to proudly display it and tell everyone that it was given to me by my closest friend." She stuck her tongue out at Karrin. She was happy, and they both knew it; even without opening the gift, she was already in a better mood. "Besides, I won't feel so bad about everyone wanting cake then!" It was a vain attempt to have Karrin stop trying to get back the box, even if by this point he had given up and it was just them being playful. Analyn knew not to wait too long to open it; Karrin may have realized that he had no choice as she was not going to relent, but he was fearing a dreadful moment. She didn't want him to see a look of fear on her face if it wasn't what she expected; as she looked down to open the box, she could tell he wasn't able to look away.

As she lifted the lid off the box, her emotions gave way to the opposite of fear; she was elated by the sparking reflection of the light as it danced across a beautiful bracelet. Analyn tried desperately to hold back the happy tears; Karrin at first worried she was truly crying, but her smile and amazement as she delicately lifted out the bracelet told him otherwise. It was no wonder Karrin was worried; everyone else spent money on one big item for her while he had focused on one small object that she could always have with her. As she held it up to the light, she couldn't help but admire the real effort he had gone to on her behalf; her gaze shifted from the bracelet to Karrin, her mouth trying to find the right words to describe her admiration. "Karrin…this is…"

"Everything on that bracelet reminds me of moments we've shared as friends. The good and the bad. Our friendship is strong, and I never want to forget it, nor could I. I just…didn't want you to do the same. I couldn't bare it if you ever forgot me," he stated. Analyn looked up for a brief moment, then back down at the bracelet. She slid it onto her wrist, and then turned and gave Karrin the tightest hug she'd ever given. Karrin started to turn a weird shade of purple, as a combination of red from embarrassment and blue from her almost cutting off his air. "I take it that you like it?" he said, wanting to be certain of what she was feeling.

"Well, well," came a voice from the side. Karrin and Analyn turned to look to see where the voice had come from, and realized it was from Analyn's older brother, Aaron. He was staring at them as if to say that he knew full well how much they cared for one another, and wanted to make light of the fact that they never said anything about it.

"What do you want, Aaron?" Analyn questioned. "Can't Karrin and I just enjoy each other's company without you always jumping in on it and making some atrocious comment?"

"Who says I said anything even remotely similar to that? All I was going to say was 'awww' at how cute you two look on the swing, but if you are going to be like that, maybe I should make some comment so I grant your birthday wish."

"Aaron, just shut up already," replied Karrin. As soon as he said it, he realized he had made a mistake by standing up for their friendship. At least, to him it was a mistake. He didn't want to upset Analyn on her birthday, and by lashing out at her brother he may have accidentally hurt her in the process. He figured this would just prove that he couldn't shield and protect those he cared about.

"Karrin…" Analyn turned in surprise. She had never heard him react like that. This was a new version of her friend, and while she wasn't certain whether she liked the brief explosion, she knew she wanted to echo the sentiment. There was always some point in which Aaron seemed to mess things up for her. Aaron used the same words every chance he got: he was only trying to protect her. She wanted to tell him that Karrin did a better job of that, but that wasn't how she wanted to react to her own brother.

"Well, looks like little Karrin is starting to join the rest of the world and grow up," Aaron joked. He patted Karrin on the head, to which Karrin's only reply was to frown and look as if he was going to punch Aaron. Analyn had never seen Karrin look so angry before.

"Today, of all days, you want to make fun of me. I thought this day was supposed to be about Analyn, not your jokes," Karrin stated. He was scared of what he was saying. He would never have verbally attacked someone, but for a moment he thought that Aaron might be making jokes at his expense just to see the reaction from Analyn. Unbeknownst to him, that was Aaron's intent. "You want to make fun of me, fine, go ahead. I'm used to it."

"Well, aren't we just a big man. Perhaps that's because you're trying to show off for Analyn?"

"I'm not trying to show off for anyone. I'm trying to support someone that I care about and celebrate her day. What are you doing to celebrate the day? Attempting to destroy a friendship that's lasted longer than any of yours? Jealous, perhaps?" Karrin realized he was venturing into territory he had never explored; he was not good at confrontation. What made it worse was that he knew everyone was beginning to stare in their direction, and perhaps _this_ was making things worse. Perhaps him standing up for his friendship was in the process of backfiring. Why was Aaron always so hard to respond to?

"Aaron, that's not a fair question to Karrin," Analyn responded. "It's my birthday; everybody wants to show off to make me happy." Analyn was immediately worried when she glanced over at Karrin. There was the look of deep thought on his face, one that Analyn had observed many times before when he was desperately trying to determine what the next step was. The gift that he had given her not one he normally would have thought of; perhaps Aaron was just trying to get him to admit that. Or was he trying to get Karrin to admit something more.

"Analyn…what if…" Karrin started.

"What if what?" she replied, trying to get him to continue the thought. When he didn't reply, Analn knew what was about to happen. There was only one thing that Karrin did when he was faced with something he wasn't ready for. Analyn hoped he would stay because that's what she needed most from him, but as he slowly walked away, nobody said anything. Even Aaron was dumbfounded at how he chose to leave; there was no quick movement, just silence as he left the party. Was he still leaving? Yes, but this was not a way that hurt her as much as it was hurting him.

Karrin didn't want to leave; everyone, except perhaps Aaron, was concerned about him as he walked away. A few of the parents suggested that someone go after him, but Analyn's parents told them he would be fine, just before glaring at Aaron. Karrin knew he was going to move away the moment he regained control; then again, for the first time in his life, standing up to Aaron felt like he was in control. His personality always won out in confrontations, though. He cared for Analyn, but he wanted happiness; he wasn't certain of anything except that he wanted to hide behind the fact that they weren't even teenagers. Analyn was now twelve; but the fact that they were that young made Karrin wonder what was sparking this internal struggle. It was right for him at this age, he assumed, to want to run away and hide. But he was _walking_ away this time; it showed to Karrin, and he hoped to Analyn as well, that he wasn't a child anymore. Besides, she deserved to have a nice birthday, and if that meant leaving so as not to be the catalyst for Aaron's jokes, then so be it. He would be happier staying, but this was her day. Not his.

Both Aaron and Analyn watched silently as Karrin left the yard. Once he was around the corner, Analyn snapped back to life and smacked her brother in the arm. He yelped, not because it hurt, but out of surprise.

"What was that for?" he cried.

"What do you think? Karrin is the one person I can count on and all you can do is lash out at him. What makes you do that? It's not fair to him or, more importantly, to me."

For a split second, it seemed as if Aaron realized the mistake he had made. It was fun and games until someone was hurt, sure. But this was the first point at which Karrin seemed overly affected by it. He rubbed his arm as he tried to come up with some sort of explanation. "He usually just takes it. I didn't think he'd actually go on the offensive. I just kid around with him. I wouldn't do it if he acted like he did just now."

"Maybe you should have told him that."

"Well, how was I to know he actually had a soft spot for you? You know how this goes. A guy and a girl are good friends; of course I'm supposed to make the joke that you two like each other. I'm your big brother."

"I'm certain he understands that. But I don't know if you actually hit a nerve. Karrin is fragile to some degree. If you knew him like I did, you'd see his life is delicately balanced. He has had so many problems in the past that affected him emotionally, and to call those into question made him snap."

"Not much of a snap."

Analyn looked back at the last place she saw Karrin before he turned the corner. After a second, she touched the bracelet and held it tight. As she walked away from the party, knowing where Karrin was heading, she blurted out towards Aaron, "I think he was just trying to protect me…and you may have done more damage than you realize…"


	12. Swings

"Most people would have just ignored my brother," came Analyn's voice, startling Karrin as he sat motionless on a playground swing a few blocks away from the party. She knew that she was interrupting a moment where he wanted to be alone. His reaction had been to try and protect their friendship; she couldn't blame him for that, nor for running (or rather walking) away when the opportunity presented itself. What she could blame him for, however, was that he didn't bother to ask her whether leaving was what she wanted.

Even though he was surprised by her presence, Karrin chose not to look up; his lack of a larger response caused Analyn to worry that he might not have heard her. He was slowly kicking the dirt as the swing he was sitting on slowly swayed. Karrin wasn't really trying to swing; he just wanted to be alone. With Analyn's arrival, he knew she wasn't going to leave without him leaving with her. For a long time, she was a real life form of his conscious thoughts; whenever there was something that he needed help deliberating and coming up with a full decision, he would imagine this idealized version of her that always managed to calm him down. Slowly, he was finding out that he didn't have to idealize her in such a fashion; she was already like that in reality.

"Most people wouldn't be sitting here on the swings at a time like this," he started before trailing off. He honestly didn't know why _he_ was sitting here on the swings. If he just walked home, the worst he would have had to do was talk to his parents about why he wasn't still at the party; here, he was facing his best friend's presence and the fact that he was the reason she left her own birthday celebration. "Why are you here, Analyn? You have a party you should be attending."

"I could say the same thing for you. _You_ have a party you should be attending as well," she remarked. She saw the look on his face when he turned to her; he was a little disgusted that his own words had been used against him. She desperately wanted to help; she wasn't just here because she had something to prove to Aaron or anyone else. Karrin's reactions at the party and coming close to admitting that he had feelings for her which could result in something more than the friendship they had shared for the last five years might be the reason he left. All Analyn wanted to do was let him know that she didn't care; what happened in the future should not have that much of an effect on the present. "Do you remember the first time we met?" she mumbled, thinking about the past.

"Kindergarten. Just over five years ago." It wasn't too hard for him to think back; it was a day that he often thought about. His family has just moved into town and it was his first day at school. He didn't know anybody, and he was too young to realize that he probably didn't _want_ to know anyone. A single moment when he turned the corner to the playground was all it took to start a friendship; seeing Analyn with a nosebleed after bullies had knocked her into the ground gave Karrin one goal: to protect her. One kid asked what he was going to do as he stepped forward; the only response Karrin gave was to get a teacher. He didn't put up a fight and didn't respond as the bullies tried to taunt him; he simply stood in place and didn't move. When the teacher arrived, the bullies jumped him and they were all sent to the Principal's Office; while his parents may have been concerned that he was involved in a fight on his first day, Analyn became a life-long friend that he hoped would never question whether all the ups and downs were worth it.

"I thought you were the nicest person I had ever met," she replied to the unanswered question of why she would bother asking. "You manage to find the good in everyone if it's there." Analyn wasn't certain why she would add the words _if it's there _to the end of her statement. Everyone had some good in them, but it was a matter of whether people wanted to put in the time to find it. "Even in my brother," she stated, finishing the thought.

Karrin allowed himself a moment to look at Analyn, smirking in the process. "It must be an amazing talent if I can find some good in your brother. Aaron has always messed around with me, even when he was our age. I don't know why he does it." Karrin wanted to make certain that Analyn knew that he would protect their friendship because it meant so much to him that there was someone who could be there for him.

* * *

Across the playground sat two individuals that were unnoticed by either Karrin or Analyn. Clothed in dark robes, it would have been hard for anyone to miss them. Yet, there they sat, intently watching the scene play out. Neither of them appeared to be breathing, sitting almost as if they were statues; perhaps this was the reason that nobody paid any attention to them. However, when a few children ran right by them, passing straight through their outstretched legs, the nature of the two became obvious: they were not of Earth.

"Do you believe this is truly the young boy who is destined to be a Pure?" asked one in a medium-pitch voice. His vocal inflection gave an air of distinction, but lacking the knowledge one might have gained in decades of research. He tilted his head to the other side as if to question whether they were spending their time in the best way possible. This was a reconnaissance mission and not an official request.

"He isn't destined to be a Pure. He supposedly already is one," was the deeper-voice response. The way in which the response came was a matter-of-fact; whatever a Pure was, they were referencing Karrin as already being it.

"He hasn't yet begun his path, though. He has never travelled the Gateway as we do."

"Speaking of the Gateway, it is time for us to return."

They stood up and walked through the playground as if slightly out of phase with Earth, not interacting at all with any of the children or parents who were using the equipment. They walked towards the swing set, between Analyn and Karrin, and onto the grass behind them. They took one last look at Karrin before one of them activated a small electronic device on his wrists; within a few seconds, a small blue vortex appeared in front of them. They walked into it moments before it closed; their presence on Earth was never noticed by anyone, not even Karrin and Analyn.

* * *

"You know, he does it for a reason," Analyn continued in her discussion with Karrin, trying her best to find the balance between agreeing with Karrin and also defending her brother's actions. She didn't want to take sides mainly because both had valid points. It was true that Aaron was a jerk to Karrin much of the time, but Karrin also had trouble seeing why Aaron was doing it. "It's not the best of reasons, but it's still a reason. He thinks he's protecting me."

"Don't get me wrong," she continued, "It's a horrible way to protect someone. You should never attack someone who really cares about you…" She glanced at Karrin before letting her gaze fall to the ground. "…or if there's someone who really cares about the person being attacked."

Karrin knew this was directed at him; he was the person being attacked and she was the one who really cared about him. He watched as she started to swing, enjoying the sight as she giggled every so often. What he really enjoyed, however, was the sight of her birthday present, the bracelet, on her wrist. He decided if she could overlook him leaving, he could at least swing with her. For the next few minutes, that's all they did. The happiest moments were just the two of them enjoying each other's company, no matter what they were doing. The more they swung, the more they laughed.

"What?" Analyn screamed when she thought she heard him say something. She came to a stop; he quickly followed suit when he noticed her lack of movement.

"I was just wondering why I get to be the lucky one who has you as a friend."

"Because I also get to be lucky enough to have you as a friend! You did a pretty good job at the party keeping me protected from my brother's stupidity. Just like you did five years ago when the bullies knocked me down."

"I don't know where I'm going anymore. Aaron's actions have made me think about a lot of things. Even with ignoring his reasoning, I think it was something that I truly needed to hear. Whether I like it or not, he's made me realize that our friendship isn't normal." He noticed she seemed distraught at the mention that they were not a normal set of best friends; he didn't want it to sound as if he hated having her in his life as that was a complete lie. "It's not a bad thing, Analyn," he continued. "There's so much more to our friendship. I wouldn't give it up for the world because we have so many things we talk about that we've never told anyone else. And that's helped our friendship become stronger."

Analyn smirked as she kicked at the dirt. She wasn't trying to start swinging again; she was just frustrated that everyone seemed to be constantly questioning their friendship. Her fear was that they were going to reach a point that she would have to say goodbye to Karrin. They both dreamt recently that something was on the horizon, but they couldn't tell whether it was just a dream or meant something more. Analyn was nowhere near the worrier Karrin was, but she still worried.

"Some birthday, eh?" Karrin remarked after a brief pause.

"It's not over yet," Analyn said as she stood up. "Maybe we should get back before all the cake is gone." She motioned for Karrin to join her. He willingly did so, because Analyn was one of the few people who could talk him out of a depressive state. As they headed back towards the party, but not before Karrin took a last look at the swing set; from now on, that swing set would remind him of the moment when he and Analyn reaffirmed their friendship.

* * *

When they arrived back at the party, very few people seemed to have noticed that Analyn had disappeared for over half an hour. Her parents knew where she had run off to, but they weren't worried as they knew who she was going after. It wasn't the first time that she had run after him, and it certainly wasn't going to be the last. Unfortunately, Aaron had been waiting to see Karrin again so he could apologize; he tried to take the change to start a conversation, but Analyn cut him off as she brushed past him.

"No, Aaron, don't even start with your jokes. Karrin is here at _my_ request, and he's not going anywhere until I say so." Analyn pulled Karrin forward towards the table. Karrin was supposed to be the one who wanted to protect her, not the other way around. Eventually, he gave up and left the thought alone, thinking it was only right for Analyn to be overprotective. It could count as a birthday wish, after all.

"What do you want, Aaron?" Karrin asked, almost as if ignoring Analyn's outburst at her brother. He wanted to show that he was a better person than Aaron, or anyone, believed him to be. Aaron reacted as if Karrin just had a small crush on Analyn and was not serious about protecting her. He wanted it to be known that he was not going to stand down from that, regardless of what Aaron thought of him.

"I wanted to…apologize," he said, obviously having trouble getting out the final word. There was a definitive uneasiness in his voice, hinting that he understood his earlier joking had almost irreparably damaged their friendship. "It was wrong for me to call out your reasons for being here today. You have to admit, you don't usually give a bracelet like that to just any old friend."

Karrin stood there, without moving. He wasn't certain how to respond to Aaron's remark. Aaron was Analyn's brother before Karrin was a part of her life. Unfortunately, he was going to have to be completely honest in his responses to Aaron's reasoning. "Aaron, I'm not going to hurt her." He waited to see if Aaron was going to say anything. When nothing further was said, he continued. "Analyn and I are close. We both value our friendship, and it did upset me that you assumed I was only her friend because I'm a boy and she's a girl. Let us worry about the details, and accept that we are friends because we want to be friends."

Analyn watched as Karrin walked towards where she now stood. As he stopped next to her, she has such a massive grin on her face that she knew he couldn't help but notice. "I can't believe you just said that to Aaron!" They both tried to stifled their laughs; as Aaron watched, he wondered whether he would ever question Karrin's convictions again.

* * *

Two thousand years earlier on the planet of Gaia, one of the blue vortex Gateways opened and the two hooded men walked out. As the Gateway closed, they bowed their heads; the younger left the room as he was directed away. The elder stayed, and knelt down at the foot of a central temple sanctum. At the center of the room, a golden-rode hovered as if around someone's neck, though no one was visibly standing there; it took a few moments, but a faint outline came into view. The voice bellowed throughout the temple, reverberating off every wall.

"What news do you have of the boy?"

"You were right, master. There are weaknesses that we did not foresee. He has a strong sense of protecting those who cannot protect themselves, but he mostly desires to protect a friendship."

"Ah…a friendship, yes. I see what you mean. There are fragments of this in the memories from when we interacted. I can see her…faintly, but I can see her."

"Unfortunately, he has not yet become the Protector of which we know. I do not wish to call into question his status as a Pure, but is it possible…"

A loud roar.

Silence.

The voice returned, a fake sense of calm in the tone. "Time is something I have plenty of. And he _is_ a Pure. He may not know it yet, nor do those insolent Ancients. But there is one person who can tell us for certain…"

"The witch? Certainly you don't want us to call upon Matoya!"

"SILLLLLLLENCEEEEEEEEEEE!" the voice boomed, knocking the hooded man over onto his back. "She is going to play a part in this when the time is ready. She knows it, and she knows I know it. When it is the time for him to be drawn to Gaia, the true chain of events will begin. Until then, I, Chaos, lord of all darkness, wait."


	13. Cogs Begin to Turn

"It's interesting to note," the Protector started, "that I never realized there were those two individuals there watching us until much later on in life." He laughed, surprising Bahamut, who was sitting directly across the room from him. "They weren't Magi, but they were supposedly working for them. Sort of a freelance group of sorts." The Protector remembered when he found out that the group had been watching him for years; it was before the War broke out during one of the battles which turned out to be one of the catalysts for the entire War. To say that he was furious would have been accurate, but the truth was that within a few days, the entire group was captured and put on trial. It was a turning point before the War even began, as the technology to create Gateways became forbidden; this caused mass panic which led to the rise of war-like sentiments. Once that law was passed, it was only a matter of time before battles began.

"A freelance group? Mercenaries?" Bahamut asked, wondering if they could possibly use the information regarding this group as a means of finding and capturing the Magi. He knew that the Protector would not give out much information for fear of changing his past, but there had to be something that they could use as a means of controlling where the future was leading them.

"I know what you are thinking, old friend," the Protector began. He didn't give any sort of hint as to whether he was reading Bahamut's mind or just knew the thought was the most logical course of action when it came to what the next step was. "There's nothing I can tell you about them at this point in time, because they don't exist. Not anymore, or rather, not yet." The look on Bahamut's face made the Protector admit that he would have to give a better explanation; there was no way for anyone of this time period to understand exactly what was going on. "They were working in the past for someone in the future as a means of controlling the present."

"My head is starting to hurt," Bahamut said, putting a hand to his temple. He hoped this would aid in dispersing his growing headache; instead, he was left with a sharp pain every few moments reminding him this was no ordinary scenario he was becoming embroiled in. "It's certainly an easy way to ensure that you won't accidentally change the origin point for anyone working for you. Although, it's still very dangerous. Time changes a lot of things."

"Unless you are the Magi, in which case, time doesn't change anything. We had a number of events where we would fix something just for them to make another mess in history."

"But if you stop them now, you'll be able to prevent all of that from the beginning?" Bahamut tried to make it sound as genuine of a question as possible. The Magi had powers beyond the understanding, and it seemed only the Protector could foresee any possible way to stop them. Bahamut remembered back to the day that he first heard the name being used in such a manner. _'Magi', _he thought. _'A holy name meant to calm the fears of those who hear it, not destroy the faith of all hardworking people.'_ There was nothing that Bahamut could say to justify not going along with whatever plan the Protector was thinking up. The devastation that the Magi brought to Gaia was intense; chunks of the Planet were shattered, ruining life and making much of the world uninhabitable for nearly three hundred years. The Planet was left in a ruined state as the Magi departed as swiftly as they arrived; they only bothered to collect a few hundred fragments from one of the Mothercrystals. Nowadays, with the Mothercrystals no longer in existence, the only remnant of their power remainder within the Protector; perhaps that was the reason why he was able to hold off the Magi. Bahamut didn't dare ask the question, just as he didn't want to bother with even thinking about the possibilities and ramifications that the answer would bring.

The Protector sitting across from him didn't exactly seem to want to talk about everything that happened in the future; Bahamut was not about to pry into the inner workings of a Gaia ravaged by war. He did take the opportunity to review the man sitting across from him; this was the first time Bahamut was able to sit back and evaluate the Protector as a person. From the first meeting at Crescent Lake until everyone left the inquiry, there had been no time to really judge who had been chosen to fill the legendary shoes. It was not of their choosing; the entities of Gaia and Destiny had decided upon a man. Or rather, a boy.

"I have to ask," Bahamut stated, "Do you intend on avoiding all interaction with your earlier self?" It was a question that needed to be asked; restricted interaction was always advised, but knowing that this elder Protector had already defeated Marilith at Crescent Lake, he had to wonder what other events might now take place that didn't originally happen. Bahamut didn't know whether he had thrown off the Protector or if the man had just not fully thought it through; his interest was piqued solely because he noticed there was very little movement in the Protector after he asked the question. A few moments passed by with nothing else said and no movement.

"There are a lot of things that I'm worried about; by telling you this, I'm being completely honest about the state of events. The Magi are the real reason I'm here, but protecting the timeline to a degree to ensure that I remain the Protector is of utmost importance." The Protector, clasping his hands together, leaned forward in his chair. There was an expression on his face that gave the impression things were not truly going as planned. "To say that I planned for every possible outcome would be a lie, assuming there would have even be a way to do such a thing. I had to take a chance when it came to Gaia; as to whether or not I will be watching out for my younger self, that is a question already answered."

Even though the Protector left the thought unfinished, Bahamut knew exactly what the answer was. There would be no reason why the Protector would not protect anyone, including himself. It would be quite awkward, of course; with the timeline changing to accommodate his presence, however, the Protector was going to have to make some sacrifices when it came to how distant he could stay from the chain of events. The biggest one was protecting his younger self, whenever he happened to show up. Bahamut wasn't even certain how they were going to recognize him unless the Protector told them.

As the Protector stood up and started walking in the direction of where the Crystalline Syntax was stored without any regret for not telling Bahamut where he was heading, one thought remained on his mind. _'Am I doing right by this new timeline? They have a head start, but with all four of the Fiends now awakened earlier than intended, am I just making things harder in the long run?' _He wasn't fully certain he'd ever know the answer to that. For now, his mind needed to be on the present, not the future; they were going to need him to be focused on the Syntax and how to keep it in alignment. Little did they know he had been holding it together since he left the inquiry chamber; since then, he was using his own body as a sort of syntax to keep the alignment from getting too unbalanced. They would quickly need to find a different way of keeping everything stable as it wasn't safe for him to continue doing this.

* * *

_'There are those stupid sirens again,'_ the Protector thought as he entered the room built around the Crystalline Syntax. He had a headache that had slowly been increasing in intensity as he neared the Syntax; if he didn't know better, he would have assumed that the Crystals were attempting to play a mean trick on him for traveling back in time. Fortunately, he knew how to quiet things down; closing his eyes and flicking his wrist in the direction of an electronics panel shorted it out and caused the sirens to cease. The only side effect was that everyone's attention was momentarily distracted, with him being the new focal point.

"Sorry," he stated, not certain whether anyone believed him after watching the panel fizzle with electricity every few seconds. He noticed that Ramuh and Ifrit were gathered around a console while Shiva sat in front of them madly typing in various symbols. He assumed they were still using the Cetran language system at this point in time; eventually, he knew they would be forced to switch to a dual system with Gaian. It would have been easier to type in using Gaian symbols, but the Protector realized exactly what they were trying to do: they were trying to take the Syntax and split it up into smaller focusing crystals as a means of holding the remaining power until the Syntax could be repaired.

"I'd be careful about doing that," the Protector warned.

"We have no choice; it's the only way to ensure that the power stays balanced," responded Shiva.

"We still don't know how it's staying aligned as it is, and we aren't going to risk it becoming unbalanced," Ifrit continued.

"You might need my help to create those focusing crystals, since I'm the one that's currently keeping the Syntax aligned," stated the Protector, resulting in the entire room once again focusing on him. He honestly figured they would have assumed that it was him; however, he understood how they could just as easily be confused.

"That's insanely dangerous," Ramuh began, knowing full well how dangerous it could be to have that much power circling through someone. The Protector remembered hearing about Ramuh's near-death incident when the Syntax was first being installed. Ramuh stepped too close to the Syntax when the system was still under testing; the resulting shock nearly killed him, but thankfully he pulled through. When he regained consciousness a few days later, the only notable difference is that he now had the ability to harness currents of electricity. "What could possibly have given you the bright idea to use your own body as a mechanism for controlling the flow of Crystal energy?"

The Protector knocked his head from side to side. "Eh…I've done it before. It's not as hard as it might first appear, but what's a problem is easily transferring it back to the Syntax. Or, rather, to the focusing Crystals right now."

"Don't worry about what has happened," Bahamut bellowed from the doorway. He walked forward slowly, giving the Protector a glance as he walked by that said, _'Next time, ask before you do something stupid.'_ Bahamut let the thought sink into the Protector as he continued forward, motioning for Shiva to move from her seat. Shiva was hesitant to follow the order at first, but she relinquished as the realization came to her that she had no clue what to do to move energy from a being to Crystals. Bahamut wasn't certain he had the knowledge; while it may have been tried in the future, they did not yet have an understanding.

"It's just as easy as moving it from the Syntax, Bahamut," the Protector said. "In fact, it's the same thing. I happen to be one of the few people who can survive such a transfusion because of how I received my powers. If I can't survive the energy leaving me, I couldn't survive it as smoothly as I have over the last few hours." To this, he nodded for Bahamut to begin; it was a moment before Bahamut was actually willing to attempt the transfer.

"Just as easy, he says," Bahamut stated as he pushed the buttons and the process began, hoping this wasn't going to kill the Protector before everything was done.

* * *

"So, who is this newcomer, then?" stated Marilith, surrounded by the other Fiends. She was concerned for her life with good reason; when the Protector made the statement that she was going to die but not by his hands, her immediate concern was that someone…or something…was stronger than he was. "Or rather, who could he be talking about?"

"Does it matter? We're the Fiends and it'll be very hard for anyone, let alone some old fool who claims to be the Protector, to stop us," spoke a squeaky voice. The giant squid, Kraken, spoke with bubbles, every so often one of them escaping and popping; it was uncommon for a denizen of the ocean to come onto land, but this was a special occasion that needed to be dealt with. Their plans were shaken up by Marilith's early awakening, but that didn't necessarily mean things couldn't be sped up.

"What I find interesting," uttered Lich, the Fiend of Earth and creature of undead, "is the sword you claim he wielded. You say it was the Masamune? That's a figment of the imagination. It could have been a knock-off for all you know."

"You weren't there," Marilith responded, shaking as she was reminded of the energy she felt pulsing from the blade. "You would have been just as worried about whether it might truly have been the Holy Blade."

"I'd suggest keeping your perspective on the matter. He's gone off to hide with the Ancients. They are probably just as happy to have him locked away as we are." The breathy voice of Tiamat, the final and leader of the Fiends, flowed through the room as if the air itself was his words. "There was a point we might have been worried, but he seems to not be focused on us at all. Marilith, you were not supposed to awaken yet, so when you attacked Crescent Lake, all he did was defend the town and let you leave. Whoever he is, there is something really strange going on here."

"As you said," Lich spoke up once more, "he's not focused on us. He saved the town and let her leave. It's almost like he's trying to keep us in suspense. Or, that he's trying to keep a balance in events. The city would not have been attacked, at least not yet. All he did was maintain the status quo."

A loud chain-link armor sounded echoed as two metal boots scraped the floor of the meeting area. All of the Fiends turned to see who it was, having not expected anyone to find out about the place, let alone show up unannounced. The individual took off his helmet to reveal someone they never expected to see.

"Hello, my friends…or rather, my Fiends. It is a joyous occasion that I am here to tell you that plans are going to change. Not by much, but they will change."

The Fiends were genuinely frightened of the newcomer, especially when he smiled a very evil grin, and gave each other looks of concern. A change of plans for something like this was only possible by one group of people, and that meant this person could only be one of that group and that the seriousness of the situation had become dire.

Their new orders were coming from a Magi.


	14. Written in the Stars

As the Gaian moon rose silently through the darkness, a small group of soldiers were scrambling to get themselves ready to head north. Over the preceding days, there had been new intelligence pointing to the possibility that the previous Head Knight, Garland, had been the one to abduct Princess Sara. For years, he had protected her; it almost seemed impossible that he would do anything to jeopardize her life. Regardless of whether or not the rumor was true, Head Knight Faure decided he had to investigate; on the off-chance that it wasn't a rumor, he would be able to save Princess Sara's life. What mattered to him was not whether it was considered by the people to be impossible but whether it was possible to have happened. Garland left with such expediency that he must have been disgruntled with some aspect of the Kingdom. Perhaps this was the most likely reason for someone to abduct the Princess in the hopes that they would be able to be taken seriously.

Faure didn't know exactly what they would find as they headed north. Their first inclination was to head towards the mainland, but as they reached the Corne River, they came upon what was left of a bridge. It had been destroyed almost as if by magic, with splinters of wood and twine covering the hillside on the approach. Faure had never heard of anything that could do this much damage to a bridge; whatever it was, it certainly was not natural. As he surveyed the damage, he realized that there wasn't enough wreckage on the opposite side to assume that whoever did this had continued on. The person responsible was purposely setting a trap, and despite Faure's best intentions, he was going to have to let himself fall for it. He wasn't certain exactly how he was going to deal with the situation, because if this was Garland's doing, he was an even bigger threat to Faure than at first imagined.

"Men," he started, "I want you to move as quickly as you can back to the Kingdom. Find out any news or intelligence and gather more men. I fear the Princess may be in jeopardy of becoming similar to the bridge laid out before us." They hesitated as they would be leaving their commander alone to face the initial attack. He assured them that they would be able to reach him before the situation was out of control, but as they disappeared over the crest of the hill, he worried that their instincts may prove to be accurate.

* * *

"Where are you going?" The Chancellor of Elfheim tried to block Lukahn from leaving the throne room. He was effective in blocking the door as the wine and song ofthe last few years that a man in his position was privileged to enjoy left quite a rotund figure in their wake. "You should be focusing on saving our Prince! You must find a way for him to awaken before anything happens to our Kingdom!"

Lukahn couldn't help but think about whether he had done enough damage already. He offered his services a year ago when he felt as if something was going to happen to the Prince; the Kingdom had politely turned him down. To demand that he appear now and save them from something he had given them the information to help save themselves was a line of reasoning that he couldn't understand. If they didn't take advantage of his skills before, why would they seriously want to now? While he may not have understood the reasoning, he could understand why they were desperate to have him travel from Crescent Lake and hopefully do something; with the Prince not yet having reached the age of rule and no other royalty to stand-in for the time being, there was effectively no ruler of Elfheim.

"What makes you think that I'm _not_ trying to do such a thing? Elfheim has a serious problem if this is the only way you can think of saving your Prince. I have no further ideas, but I know someone who might." He pushed past the Chancellor and continued to make his way out of the Castle, heading for a carriage which could take him to the docks to the east. This time, the Chancellor didn't try to stop him, but instead chose to stay by his side and continue the attempts to keep him from leaving. Lukahn didn't care; he had stopped bothering to try and appeal to the better judgment of the Chancellor, assuming he had one any in the first place.

"And who would this be? Why do you need to leave in order to talk with this person? I will send for whoever it is at once. There is not a single reason why you need to leave."

"I don't _need_ to leave. I _want_ to. I can tell when I'm not welcome."

"You are welcome! Of course you are!"

The Chancellor sounded too enthusiastic; Lukahn wondered if the Chancellor would ever realize that it was quite simple to discern that he was not being serious. There were so many undertones to everything they both were saying, but could it be possible that only Lukahn recognized how racially charged their dialogue was becoming? The breakdown in communication was not something he wanted; he truly hoped to be able to save these people. Yet for every attempt came a level of failure. They had their own _fortune tellers_, as he remembered being called. No one believed Lukahn's version of events since their fortune tellers had not seen the same thing. '_Perhaps one day,' _Lukahn surmised, _'they will realize that all of those idiots are shams. I tried to help and was turned away.'_

"Please, stay, and I will summon whoever it is."

"Even if it's Matoya?"

The Chancellor stopped walking, but he wasn't the only person in the hallway who halted their movements. The entire place had come to a standstill, all due to the mention of the name Matoya. The Chancellor seemed to grow angry at the mention of her name, his face turning bright red, so much that Lukahn actually wondered if he was going to explode before he said anything. "You do realize," he huffed, "that I could have you killed for the mention of that name?"

"You won't. If I'm not allowed back into this Kingdom following my departure, then fine. You say that I've been welcomed with open arms? The first time I came here was not because of any sort of feeling that I was special. It had nothing to do that I am from Crescent Lake and the Prince is from Elfheim. It had everything to do with the fact that I wanted to help. I didn't come here because of the racial tension between our peoples; I came here in _spite_ of it." Lukahn continued to walk towards the front entrance; he expected everyone else to continue moving and resume their duties, but no one did as they were more content to see what the Chancellor was going to do in response. Instead, as he opened the doors himself, Lukahn turned back and left everyone with one final thought. "Perhaps next time someone suggests that something bad might happen, you will think twice about ignoring it; instead, you might think about protecting those you care about."

As the door slammed behind Lukahn, the Chancellor stared at it for a moment. Had he misjudged the man who had just left them behind? Was this the last hope for his people? His thoughts pervaded the next few moments as he tried to recover from the verbal onslaught Lukahn had just thrown at him. He returned to the throne room, trying to put on a brave face; however, he was failing miserably. As he slammed doors in a manner similar to Lukahn and sat up against them, the Chancellor gave in to the hopelessness he was feeling. Once again reaching the point of sobbing, he realized he alone might have doomed the Kingdom.

"What have I done?"

* * *

As she sat in her cave, continuing to rub her forehead, the seer Matoya thought about how desperate times were becoming if she could sense the Protector's presence. Somehow, she figured she would never be able to have sensed him now, because he was meant to be nothing more than a small boy. However, something was different about this level of energy; she was certain it was the Protector, but there was a higher level of control over it than she would have expected. Her first inclination was that the Protector was from the future, since there were many stories of him traveling throughout time to thwart evil. However, as she thought about it, she wondered why the Syntax started to become unbalanced; there was another piece to this puzzle. Someone else was taking action to make things either worse for Gaia…or worse for the Protector.

"Anybody home?" said a lively voice, taking Matoya by surprise. She wasn't expecting visitors, but she had certainly not expected to ever hear _that_ voice again.

"Ah, there's a voice I haven't heard in years. What makes you come back this way?" Matoya's raspy voice was barely audible, but Lukahn didn't have any trouble figuring out what she had said.

He set his bag down and gave her a hug. "It's been a few years, Matoya. I've regained something of a life back in Crescent Lake. I was looking forward to a long time without having to deal with seeing the future again, but these days, as I'm sure you are aware, the future is all anyone can seem to think about." Lukahn hoped Matoya was going to have the key to saving the Prince of Elfheim, regardless of whether or not it got him back on good terms with the Kingdom. Certainly, she was getting up in age, but he guessed that her memory and wit were still as sharp as ever. Unfortunately, as he watched her move around, she seemed to have less energy; perhaps it was too much to hope for.

"Indeed. Yesterday, I sensed something. Something I wasn't planning on sensing for at least another week." Her voice had changed from extreme happiness at being around another seer to agitation at the series of events that was progressing. She knew if she could sense it, Lukahn could as well. As she moved him toward her table, she felt an intense sensation emanating around him. "Lukahn? What is this strange sense I'm getting from you? I hope you haven't been dabbling in the dark arts!"

"Actually, you could be sensing any number of things. The Prince of Elfheim is under a spell and the entire Kingdom thinks it's up to me to determine how to save him. Quite ridiculous. What it could also be is having been around two very powerful people."

"That is definitely what I sense, but I can only recognize one. The Lord of the Ancient Society. Bahamut."

Lukahn chuckled. "You haven't aged a bit, have you? Still just as accurate as ever." She was a disciple of magic, a thaumaturge mixed with a powerful understanding of conjuring. People used to call her the miracle-worker; she had an amazing history traveling the world and working with an unparalleled mastery of the all elements. She could tell the future simply due to her knowing how to read the flow of energy. The likely events were always written in the stars; she was more than happy to tell anyone of their future. Unless, of course, it was a group of people intent on destroying another. And thus, when she turned those down, they destroyed her home and pushed her into exile. Only a few people now knew where she lived, and none of them wanted to divulge her whereabouts. To most of the world, Matoya no longer was alive.

"Who is the other? Wait…" She started to gain a feeling; she _had_ felt this before. She recognize this pattern of energy, but it was so different from everything else that it took her a moment before she understood who Lukahn had come into contact with. Her surprise was evident. "The Protector. You've met the Protector!"

"You could say more that he met me. Or rather, landed in front of me."

Matoya seemed to have a spark of life in her that Lukahn hadn't seen in decades. It was interesting watching the woman spring back to sprinting around her home, gathering up all sorts of interesting tidbits to bring to the table. "I hope you've eaten, because if you haven't, well, I'm just going to fix something anyways. But you know me; I was always better at magic than cooking." She set about cooking, but when she realized that Lukahn was here for a reason, she stopped. "If you are looking for a way to save the Prince, I cannot do it right now. I need my Crystal Eye to focus. I may still be able to move around quite a bit, but I don't have the same energy I used to. My abilities are waning."

"Then we'll just have to go after your Eye. Where is it?"

"Don't worry yourself. I can still see some things, and I know there will be a group of people who will be able to recover the Eye for me. The Prince will not suffer until that occurs."

"A group of people. The Warriors of Light. Yes, I saw they should be gathering soon. In fact, at one point I saw a fifth. But now, I can barely see the future."

Matoya sighed, showing her agreement with the lack of foresight. "I know exactly how you feel. Something is definitely about to happen. And it's the worst thing possible. The Magi have been trying to sabotage the Crystalline Syntax, the one thing that currently holds the flow of energy in check. The Ancient Society and the Protector have stabilized it, but something is still not right. There are additional factors coming into play. They don't like that he's here."

"That the Protector is here?"

Matoya nodded. "He's making a mess of their plans. Ever since his arrival, a new series of events have been put in motion. Normally, any seer would be able to see the future as clear as ever; his presence here is making it hard to follow the flow. I think the Magi had a plan they were putting into action, and his arrival upset that plan. It's made them move sooner than they ever thought they would have to."

"We need to warn Bahamut and the Protector."

* * *

"What is it? Bahamut asked of a technician who decided now was the best time to interrupt. The procedure had been successful and fractures of the Syntax were created. As the Protector looked at them, he murmured something about orbs before passing out. Trying to keep the entire flow of energy for a planet in a stable pattern would have been draining for anyone; they were lucky he was only exhausted. As the Protector was carried away on a stretcher to rest, the technician had managed to trip his way over random wires to give Bahamut some rather interesting news.

"We've been getting a very badly garbled message from just north-west of Pravoka. We haven't been able to identify who is sending it, but whatever the message is, someone is trying to prevent us from hearing it."

Bahamut stepped over to a console with the technician and they tried to play back the message. The technician wasn't lying; there was a lot of garbled information within it. A few words there. A badly garbled sentence with information that Bahamut didn't know what to make of. This was getting them nowhere. Bahamut knew there was only one person who would be trying to send a message directly to him. Matoya was also the only one who would use such an antiquated means of passing along information; granted, it was very unlikely people nowadays would recognize or even bother trying to recognize the signal she was sending. A very low mental stream of data was so impossible for most people that very few even thought it was possible. Powerful magic users, however, had no trouble using the ability.

Bahamut was honestly more interested in figuring out who was trying to prevent them from receiving the signal. Every attempt he made to figure it out would cause circuits to overload; this was another concern because no circuits should have been overloading. Asking the technician to look into it, Bahamut tried another combination, only for another set of electronic diodes exploded nearby. The technician responded that there was something blowing the circuits at the main generator. Bahamut looked up, fearful of who would dare try to sabotage the Underground Fortress.

He took a few security personnel up to the generator room and quietly looked around. The security officers began to scan the room for any source of life. After reporting back only they were in the room, Bahamut turned his back to see a large hole in the wall where someone had escaped by breaking through it. Bahamut had never seen anything that could do this much damage, though. Whoever it was, they were certainly getting his attention.

The technician called up to the room, asking for Bahamut. As he barked orders to have the wall repaired, the technician mentioned that they finally managed to get the message through. Matoya had indeed sent the message, and she was letting them know that there was a group of four people heading in their direction, zooming along through the sky. Matoya had felt the explosion of energy as she passed over her.

"The Magi," he muttered before dropping the phone. If the Magi had the power to destroy the wall in such a way simply by leaving it, they were all lucky to have escaped with their lives. Bahamut looked back in fear, knowing full well that Gaia was not going to be the same place ever again.


	15. A Moment Comes Forth

The hours passed by slowly as Bahamut waited, hoping that the Protector would soon regain consciousness. As the leader of a population on the verge of watching their planet die, here he was watching someone powerful enough to be a conduit for the energy of the Crystals, the very life force of the Planet as it were, as he rested. Bahamut didn't know what the next step was; was he supposed to focus on recovering from the apparent Magi attack on the generator room, or was he supposed to reach out to Matoya and figure out what she might know? Either choice seemed to divert needed resources away from the other; Bahamut was only able to come up with the solution of sending the Protector out to talk with Matoya. A risky enough plan, even if the Protector was at full strength.

"Bahamut…" croaked the Protector, slowly awakening from what appeared to have been a very deep sleep. The pain he was in was evident as his grimaced as his hands pushed hard against the bed to lift him up into a seating position. "Did it work?"

Bahamut wished he could give him better news, but the truth was at least something they could work with. "It did. The focusing crystals were created, but the concern is how long we can last before we run into further trouble."

"Then," the Protector said as he slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed, "there is little time to waste. We need to get these crystals to the Light Warriors so that they, while they travel, will be able to assist us in restoring the natural flow of the Planet." As the Protector started to roll off the bed and onto his feet, he noticed that Bahamut was not moving. "There is more, I take it. Something that hasn't been said yet."

"We've received word from Matoya, and we were attacked moments later."

"The Magi. Or at least one of their underlings." The Protector frowned, closing his eyes for a moment as he felt intense disgust for how his attempt at saving the Planet from the Magi was treading rather close to destroying it. "What did they do?"

Bahamut pushed himself out of the chair, standing upright. "They blew out a wall by the generator, and sabotaged the attempt we were making of moving the crystal energy."

"That certainly explains why I fell unconscious. I didn't anticipate that."

"I've already got people working on the wall and generator to restore them to their former state. The discussion that needs to be had with Matoya, however, I have been unable to send anyone to take care of."

"You were hoping I would go. A sensible plan. Chances are the Magi will stay away for the moment to see how the scenario plays out. I'm from far in the future; I'm more powerful than even they could imagine right now. This may only be an assumption, but I doubt they are stupid enough to try anything against me."

The Protector hobbled out of the room, Bahamut holding the door open for him. They neared the elevator that would take them towards the entrance of the Underground Fortress. As it opened to allow the Protector inside, he turned back to Bahamut, preventing him from entering.

"Your place is here, my friend," he spoke. "Matoya and what she might know is my next destination, not yours. You are needed here. The Moment is coming…and it's sooner than you might think."

* * *

The elevator reached the top floor, and as the doors opened, the Protector was appalled at the sight that lay before him. The entire entryway was covered with dead bodies, left in such a manner that showed they had very little time to react before they were slaughtered. As he walked out of the doorway, he quickly stepped backward before bringing his right arm up to his face, the Masamune quickly coming into existence. For a moment, he was relieved that his reflexes hadn't been dulled; the Masamune blocked a katana from hitting him. It quickly fell to the floor as if it had been thrown in his direction.

The Protector quickly stretched his neck muscles after rebounding off the back wall of the elevator and landing outside as the doors closed. He looked ahead of him towards the entrance and saw a lone figure that simply stared back at him. The Protector stood upright and slowly walked towards the entrance, putting the Masamune away; he knew full well who was standing opposite him. The weapon being hurled at the Protector wasn't meant to actually hurt him but rather as a test to see what his opponent was up against. 'His opponent', in this case, was the leader of the Magi.

"You know who I am," the Protector stated as he came to a stop , "but do you know that I know who you are?"

"I'm fairly certain that you do. At least to some level. You might not know what you are up against."

"I could certainly say the same thing for you."

The moment was extremely tense; neither of them wanted to make another move until they had a clear advantage in the situation. They both eyed each other in a similar way, but with different motives. The leader of the Magi saw the Protector as nothing more than the one man able to stop them all from their goal. The Protector saw the man standing across from him as something more sinister, someone that who went to the greatest length in an attempt to destroy him. Certainly, the war had corrupted both of them; it was too late to undo those actions, but perhaps the man standing in front of him was different than the Protector specifically thought him to be.

"Don't worry," the man said. "I have no wish to harm you right now. Take the carnage around you as a statement that we are serious and are not to be trifled with. You leave us alone…" he stated as he turned around. "…and we'll leave you alone."

"Once again, I will suggest that the same statement applies to you. I have a mission, and for right now it doesn't have to deal with you. Let's not let this somewhat _cordial_ conversation become anything…_deadly_." The Protector hoped that the man would understand to leave, and he seemed to take the hint. He smirked, disappearing from view, fading away in the pale light coming in from outside. The Protector felt horrible as he allowed his gaze to fall once more upon the bodies as he reached for the communications system to inform Bahamut of what happened. "I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner," he said to the corpses. "If only I knew whether what was happening was going to be worth it…"

* * *

It took the Protector the better part of ten minutes to fly to where Matoya lived. He was certain he could have arrived sooner, but he wanted to ensure that he was not pushing himself so hard after the Magi's attempt to sabotage the transfer of the Crystal energy. It had been a very dangerous attempt in the first place; for him to push himself to fly too fast and push his powers to their limit would have been just as reckless. He decided to fly at a steady pace which would allow him to conserve his energy without jeopardizing his life by accidentally causing a freefall to the Planet.

As he rotated around to land, he noticed that Matoya wasn't the only one there. "Ah, Lukahn," the Protector stated as his feet touch the ground. "Something told me that you might turn up sooner or later. Didn't think it would be sooner."

"Indeed," Lukahn responded. "I believe I've overstayed my welcome in the kingdom." He placed a hand on his neck as if ashamed of what he was about to say; however, there was no shame in his voice. "They didn't exactly like my never-ending rhetoric of telling them they should have listened to me." That lack of shame told the Protector that Lukahn was glad to be rid of the Elvan problem. It was understandable; the population of Elfheim were very stubborn, they firmly believed they were always right. However, the problems of Elfheim seemed far enough away that they could ignore it for the time being.

"While you gentlemen are discussing the political stupidity of one kingdom, might I remind you that the Magi are still very much a threat?" Matoya asked.

"She is right, the Magi are enough of a threat on their own," Lukahn responded. "I would rather deal with the Fiends than the Magi any day of the week."

"I just had to deal with the leader of the Magi on my way here. He slaughtered a bunch of innocents as a means to show me that they need to stay out of their way," the Protector explained. The situation wasn't as far out of control as it might soon reach, but to him it was already farther than it needed to be. Those young men and women guarding the entrance to the Underground Fortress did not have to die. Apparently, they _needed_ to die for the Magi's purpose.

Lukahn and Matoya could see a painful mix of hate and sorrow appear on the Protector's face. Neither of them wanted to say something, but Lukahn spoke up, eager to understand what they were up against. It took a moment before the Protector could find the words to describe exactly what the Magi were trying to do in their antics against the Protector.

"Back on Earth, my home world, there's a similar game to what's going on here. It's a very thought-provoking game, wherein the players think many moves ahead to determine the best course of action. It's called Chess. I fear we're playing Chess with not boards or pieces made from metal or wood. We're playing with the population of Gaia as the pieces and the Planet as the playing field. It sickens me. The lives of individuals are not meant to be used as some playing piece that can be thrown away."

"Protector," Matoya stated, fearing that questioning the obvious would only make a bad situation worse. "What's the goal of this game?" It was an honest enough question. Understandably, if there was a way to win the game, that might help to diffuse the situation.

"The goal is to trap a single piece of your opponent's playing pieces. At that point, the other team is forced to basically surrender. The problem isn't winning; my concern is how to win without drawing it out. Some games of Chess have been known to go on for days. Days would be nothing in this game being played; I just don't want it to take years. With every year that goes by, things can get worse."

"So, if the leader of the Magi if your opponent's piece…that would have to make you the piece we don't want to lose," Matoya responded.

"If not this me, then at least the other me."

Matoya shrugged. "I don't understand what you mean, but I will take your word on it. But then again, if there is another you, perhaps that is their true target."

The Protector shook his head. "There wouldn't be any way of them realizing where the correct me of this time period is. They can't get there. Unless…"

Lukahn became worried at the Protector not finishing the thought. "Unless what? Could they be after your younger…" Lukahn couldn't finish the sentence; he was cut off as the Protector took to the skies and was moving away at an incredibly fast pace. "Well," he murmured to Matoya, "I guess he has an idea of where exactly they are heading. Hopefully they won't do anything to hurt him."

"Lukahn, that is probably _exactly_ what they are hoping to do."

* * *

As the Protector rushed back, he felt something different inside of him; it was as if the sum of his being was changing. This could only have meant one thing: the Magi were trying to bring his past self to Gaia too soon. This could easily not bode well for his past self…or for him. He had to get there before the damage was irreparable. He pushed as hard as he could, zooming faster through the sky than he could remember ever doing so before.

On Earth, Karrin was falling asleep. He was hoping that he would be able to get a good night of sleep before school the next day. He didn't know whether he was going to dream about the fantastical world he told Analyn about; he certainly hoped that would be the case. There was no way to know, of course. That didn't stop him from dreaming about dreaming.

As he lay in bed ten minutes later, still awake, he felt as if someone was watching him. He opened his eyes and looked around, concerned something was about to happen. Fortunately, he didn't find anything. He decided that the feeling was nothing and that he should just go to sleep. He put his head against the pillow and found himself falling asleep again. For the first time in a number of weeks, Karrin finally fell asleep without any hassle.

* * *

Explosions rocked the hallway surrounding the Crystalline Syntax as the Protector pushed his way through what seemed like endless heaps of rubble. A few of them held technicians back from entering doorways where they needed to be; in these instances, the Protector flung small explosive bolts of fire into them to clear the way. He was worried that the Magi were causing problems to keep him off guard; one look at the Syntax room as he ended told him he was right.

"They came out of nowhere!" Bahamut shouted across the room from a panel that was sparking randomly. Much of the equipment was having the same trouble. The place was on verge of falling apart, and there was nothing they could do except hope the power levels would drop below dangerous levels. "They just appeared and started damaging the equipment! We don't know what they are up to!"

"They're trying to bring me to Gaia earlier than it should have been. A few moments here or there and things could turn out drastically different," the Protector yelled back. He ran over to a nearby panel and tried to get an accurate reading of what was going on inside the Syntax. The Syntax could still read the Crystals even though it no longer had the energy flowing through it. The readings, however, were very confusing. "Are you getting the same readings I am? The Crystals aren't in alignment but they are trying to act like they are?"

"Exactly! Somehow, they misaligned the Crystals as a means of creating some sort of electro-magnetic portal."

"You mean a Gateway? Damn them. They purposely flew over Matoya's place, knowing full well she would call for assistance and that I would be the one to go. They drew me away so they could attack."

Bahamut ran over to the Protector's side. "There's nothing we can do about it now. We need to find a way to redirect it so they don't get a hold of your younger self before we do. I do agree on one sentiment – they have created this situation and will pay for it." A loud spark signaled the explosion of the panel where Bahamut had previously stood. "Well, they will eventually. We have bigger problems right now."

"That's an understatement, my friend." The Protector was quickly punching in numbers and variables that even Bahamut didn't know could be used. "I am going to try and force a stable Gateway open. It won't stay stable for long." He remembered doing something similar to this when he was still in his present, the future that was quickly being unwritten. He caused a massive chain reaction to create a stable Gateway back this far in time; he only needed to create a Gateway between dimensions. However, he knew full well that Gaia and Terra would not align for another few hours; he was going to have to input all the calculations manually.

"Is this safe?"

"Good lord, no. But it's the only way."

* * *

On Earth, Karrin awoke, startled by something that he couldn't see. He could barely hear the low buzzing sound of something in his room. His first inclination was that it was a bug that had managed to find its way into the room and was being a nuisance. He tried to put it out of his mind; he found himself unable to a few minutes later as the noise became unbearable. He decided to look for himself; he didn't want to wake his parents unless it was something he couldn't deal with himself.

As he looked over the edge of his bed, he realized there was a small glowing light just above the floor. He first thought it was one of his toys that had a light reflecting on it; he quickly realized it was something he had never seen before. He leaned down to touch it, and it quickly enveloped his hand. There was a strong pulling sensation, and he couldn't pull away.

Karrin started to whimper and cry; he was scared.

* * *

"I think I've got something. It certainly looks like my genomic structure, but I'm not certain what's going on. It's fighting me. Or rather, I'm fighting me. I should have been asleep right now."

"Is it possible the Gateway woke you up?" Bahamut responded.

"Possible, and it seems more than likely!"

"We're running out of power. We don't have much time."

"Time…I'm starting to hate the word!" the Protector stated as he finished putting in the last few variables. This was it: the moment that would either make or break the future. This was not the way he had envisioned dealing with ensuring the younger Karrin managed to make it to Gaia. _'Karrin,' _ he thought to himself in the last few moments. _'I hope you can forgive yourself for what's about to happen. If there were any other way, I would certainly have let you have your life on Earth. But Gaia needs us and especially needs you. I only hope you don't have to walk the same path that I did.'_ As he pushed the final buttons, the Protector stepped back in the hopes everything would turn out alright.

"May the Gods forgive us for what we are doing," Bahamut stated.

"For once, my friend, I agree."

* * *

Karrin felt the light being to crawl up his arm. Before he could make any further noises, the light engulfed him. He felt unable to breathe but could. He felt unable to see but could. He felt unable to move; that alone was the only truth. Gravity was still pulling on him, and he fell forward out of his bed. He felt like he was blacking out, but as he fell, he didn't immediately hit the floor. Shades of light were passing by him as he fell for what seemed like a few minutes. He could see fragments of a world, mere moments in time stuck in what seemed like bubbles.

Then it stopped. He felt himself falling in air again; as he opened his eyes, he saw a hardened floor ahead of him and not the carpet he was expecting to cushion his fall. The rush of air finally overtook him and he lost consciousness before he could scream.

* * *

"Got'cha," the Protector stated. He lowered his younger self to the ground as slow as possible. "That's a new one for the record books. Saving yourself." He turned to Bahamut. "You need to tend to him quickly. I've stabilized him, but I'm not certain for how long. I had to do a lot of mucking about in the Syntax to even pull this off."

"Speaking of the Syntax…" Bahamut trailed off. They both looked on as the last few traces of power died down and disappeared. Only the Crystals meant to be united with the Orbs by the Light Warriors remained. "I so hope this works out in the end. This is quite the mess. I'm not sure of anything anymore."

"I know. But there is one thing I'm sure of. This is only the beginning."


End file.
